Ali Siddiq details his rise from a 14-year-old inmate to a comedian with over 35 million views, recounting prison violence, his mentorship of younger prisoners, and the emotional weight of performing about his late sister. He critiques industry bias against independent comics of color while contrasting Houston's inclusive hip-hop legacy, championed by Jay Prince, against New York's exclusionary culture. Ultimately, Siddiq argues that true success requires earning respect through vulnerability and independence rather than relying on management machines or ignoring one's roots. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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The Fight Over Narratives00:14:34
What's up everybody?
Welcome to Flagrant.
And today we have Ali Sadiq in the building, GOAT storyteller, one of the best comedians out there.
You've seen him on Deaf Comedy Champ and his Domino Effects specials, four of them.
This is unprecedented the amount of comedy he's actually put out for free for all of you on the internet.
Garnered over 35 million views, rave reviews on YouTube.
Ali turned his tough life into comedy gold.
He's raw, he's real, relentless.
No gimmicks, just pure, hilarious storytelling.
I want to dive in because I feel like what you're experiencing was a lot of us have experienced when we put stuff on YouTube is like you're getting big views.
You're selling out these huge venues.
But there's also this thing where it's like, is it just in our little bubble?
Have you felt that?
Yeah, I think I'm in a little bubble.
I don't think it's popped the ceiling yet.
But then you look at the views, like if 100 million people have watched this, what the ceiling is.
I'm waiting on India.
I think with Ali Sadiq, you might get Pakistan first.
I think white people think I'm Indian.
No way.
I just recently did Boston.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Can I tell you something crazy?
When I was a kid, white people couldn't understand that I was, they thought I was black.
When they were racist toward me, they would be go back to Africa.
They would call me the N-word.
And I would be like, I think I'm supposed to be offended.
It happens, though.
What happened in Boston?
So this is when I was, I hate to put them out there, but because she rectified it, but it was, I was at Boston Laughs, right?
Yeah.
And two white gobs open for me.
And I walk out and this white dude was like, I thought he was Indian and he just turned his back to the stage.
I was like, what?
How much does this white guy love India?
I think he hates black people.
I would have never came if I knew he was black.
Indian, yes, but black now.
I like how Buzz is like just getting a little less racist.
It's like he's accepted the color spectrum a little bit.
Yeah, really.
And you thought they would get over it with Bill Russell bringing so many championships.
You know, championships like cure racism.
I've thought about this too.
It's like there might have been a period during Bill Russell's reign because it's not like he didn't just win him as a player.
He won him as a coach.
And like, I'm wondering what is happening to like the racist people in Boston at that time when he wins, what, nine as a player?
And then they're going to bestow like the most important position for the franchise that they care about.
Go.
The coach.
So this is my thing against racist black men who argue about Jordan.
Because I think you just, this is my problem with it, with the whole Bill Russell thing.
Okay.
So if somebody said who's one of the greatest coaches of all time, they're going to mention Ray Darbach.
They're not going to say, oh, it was the era.
He didn't enough.
No, they're just going to mention.
This is a great.
But when it gets to Bill Russell, oh, he didn't play against nobody.
He played against fucking everybody in his era.
Wilson.
He played against Wilson and everybody else.
But then when he left, when Ray Darbach left, he became the coach.
And he played and coached.
Jordan, there's no way Jordan could have played and coached.
No way.
Yeah.
And played 36.
He was killed a golf imposter.
He caught 10 players on the team.
It's just me and Scotty.
Everybody else sit down.
It's amazing how they just try to diminish what he did in basketball.
He has 11 championships.
Yeah, I wonder if part of it is like that.
Was a time, I think, in the NBA, my dad would tell me these stories.
So Bill Russell, my dad saw, he was the first person he ever saw dunk a basketball.
It was like during the layup lines.
He was like, I just saw him jump up there, dunk.
He goes, To me, Bill Russell is the best player that he ever saw play because he completely changed the game, even defensively.
Yeah.
But this was a time where my dad would tell me that, like, when the Knicks were playing at the same time, the, what is it with clowns and stuff?
What is that called?
Circus?
The circus.
When the circus was in town.
What did they call it?
The clowns.
I forgot.
I almost called it the carnival.
I forgot the name of that shit.
I'm about to call it the barbershop.
I was about to say no.
He told me the Knicks would be bumped out of the garden for the circus.
For the circus.
I can do it.
So this is at a time where, like, I guess back finals are on Tate Belay, apparently.
Yeah, Ringling Brothers was huge.
Yo, come on, bro.
Hey, man.
Yeah, hey, hey, hey.
We're having a circus here.
We did.
Yeah.
I mean, anyway, that was, yeah, kind of wild times.
Bill Russell has a picture where he's just wearing all the rings, bro.
That's insane.
Iconic players.
Rings and fingers.
Player and coach.
Yeah, unrest.
At a time where they weren't even letting him, I think, in certain cities, stay in the same hotel as the white players.
And he did all this in Chucks.
He's playing in both.
I got great abundance.
That's why they had to dribble like this.
You know, the craziest Bill Russell stat?
If I think it's 14-0 in game sevens, he never lost a game seven.
Yeah, he's lost.
Game seven, Bill Russell, you win.
That's it.
There's nobody else I can think of that ever had that.
Yeah.
It's just, were you a big hoop fan growing up?
Always.
Really?
Basketball.
Yeah, definitely.
But what was it?
Obviously, Rockets, but like.
Obviously, wrong.
What do you mean?
No, it wasn't the Rockets.
Who was you?
Always.
Is your family originally from New York?
No.
You ever seen Cowboy fans?
They all over the world, right?
I'm from Dallas.
That's a hit on her.
He had to do that.
Man, look who played for the Knicks.
That's who's on TV.
You root for the big TV.
Like, remember, we were all Braves fans for no reason?
It was just because they were on TV.
He was a circus fan when he was growing up.
I know that shit.
Damn, Patrick Ewan went to the Knicks.
You know, you watched Georgetown and then your player gets drafted to the Knicks.
Oh, for sure.
But as a Dallas guy, Houston people are so fucking annoyingly loyal.
You're a Dallas guy?
He's funny in Dallas.
I already love the Cowboys.
Like, what is it?
I wouldn't even have to do that.
Always.
If they would have drafted Jerry Rice, I still wouldn't have been fucking with the Cowboys.
I was like, Jerry's good, but fuck the rest of the time.
And that's my favorite football player, Jerry and Deion.
And I make a strong argument for Dion being one of the greatest, being damn near the greatest player on LT. And I'm a Giants fan, but over LT. Yeah, I don't think that's crazy.
Okay, so what is I think we have to accept that LT at the at his prime, I think, was high cocaine for sure.
Why do we diminish like the value of cocaine in the excitement of the sport?
Because remember in like the 80s when the basketball players were just fist fighting on the court?
Yeah, I thought all of them was high.
They were.
They were fighting their ass off.
Yeah.
And Elijah is when I remember when a lot of Elajuan was still fighting in his era before.
Elijah, it's like nobody wanted to fight the dream.
You remember Vernon Maxwell's story?
Have you heard Vernon talking about?
I know Max.
Oh, really?
Man, and me and Max used to be in the club back in the day.
But when he said about Elijah slapping him, I was like, yeah.
The dream, the dream was like, hey, man, stop all that fat mousing, bro.
Yeah.
In his broken Nigerian language, baby.
I've been at the mosque with him.
At the where?
At the mosque.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, of course.
So him, his brothers are bigger than him.
It's crazy how big his brothers are.
Okay.
But to be next to him in prayer.
Yo, man.
I'm going to go to the back because this seems like I can't even concentrate.
I imagine he is right behind those feet.
Come on, man.
Pray in the back, bro.
It's crazy how big he is.
So, wait, were you in Houston going to the mosque while he was playing for the team?
Yeah.
Really?
So he would just go to 1884.
But I was not there.
I was locked up.
That's the thing about, I always go back to like, I miss, and I hate it too.
Like, people be talking to me about years.
Oh, you're locked up to Ray Houston's rings.
And let me tell you, the terrible thing about this, they playing the Knicks.
Oh, that's right.
And I was the only one in a Texas prison rooting for the Knicks.
And so.
Oh, you just want your life to be hard, bro.
So when the Knicks lose, it's like everybody in the cafeteria was waiting.
Like, they wouldn't even eat.
They were just as soon as I came in.
And then I remember when San Antonio was playing the Knicks.
I had on a Knicks jersey.
I'm performing at this club downtown and I'm with Rodney Winfield.
He's a legend.
And this is how he talked.
Rodney was like, God damn, why don't you just take off the goddamn jersey?
Because I'm walking downtown and everybody fucking with me because the Knicks lost to San Antonio.
He's like, yeah, he said, man, just take off the jersey, bro, because I can't fight with you.
I'm old.
He's looking out for himself.
He's not even worried about you.
Yeah.
Yo, okay.
I've seen like so many videos.
Obviously, tell these great stories.
I think there's like a little part of me, like as a comedian, like if ever, God forbid I got locked up, I'm like, well, what if I could use my comedy abilities to lighten the mood in the jail or whatever?
And I'm watching, I know it's so stupid, right?
But I'm very curious because a lot of your stories, you're talking about kind of teasing people.
At what point do you build up the courage to be like roasting guys who are locked up probably for some dangerous shit?
Is there ever a point where you're like, man, that's not the guy I'm going to tease?
Like, how do you build rapport to be yourself?
I knew coming in, you know, I was there for like six.
So the first two, I was making my bones.
And so people understood he's going to say whatever he's going to say regardless.
Fighting him is not the way to go.
Because you grew up boxing, right?
Okay.
So you guys.
And I know mass majority of people can't fight.
Like, I know it.
So I'm like this.
I'm like, like, you really want to do this?
So you weren't scared at all?
I've never been scared.
Not even in the beginning.
You tell this great story.
It was one of the first things I saw you on an Ari show about the Mexicans are wearing boots.
Yeah, I was unaware, but not scared.
I wanted to know what it meant.
Have you guys seen that?
I was like, what did that mean?
I just, you know, was unaware.
So in Domino Effect 3, that's why it's damn near my favorite one because it's showing how unaware I was when I got locked up in the county.
I'm like, I'm so unaware how this, the process.
When dudes was at the bars, like, yo, you slapped my sister.
I'm like, no, I've never slapped a woman.
Even know your sister, and then once I figured out they were talking to me, I was like, Oh shit, so you're trying to start something with me.
Oh, they're making up a making up excuse to.
I'm like, and I and I couldn't.
And once I figured out they were talking to me, I couldn't wait for them to come and let me in the cell.
And I was, I'm like, Okay, okay, cool.
You, you, you, you making up shit, okay, cool.
So, I don't like to be lied on.
So, you immediately heard this story.
That's when I knew I was pussy because I'm like, he goes up to the two guys that are not getting there.
Wait, wait, tell me, tell these guys up.
So, yeah, again, tell us the story.
So, I'm outside the bars, and we, when they getting ready to lock you up inside, they put you like in the hallway, right?
And so that, but the people can see you, they everybody can see you, and they locking up other people.
And I'm sitting there waiting with this sandwich that I'm not gonna eat just because you think you don't never eat because you think you're gonna get out, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, you don't eat nothing, you're like, I'm straight, he didn't know how much his bond is.
Oh, his bond was ended up being like 150,000 or something.
So, you know, not prison, yeah, at this point, yeah, you're in jail, right?
Right, so you think you're getting out of the quiet, let me go back.
I can make the bond, but my attorney said it wasn't.
Yeah, oh, that's right, yeah, his attorney said proof you have to understand.
Oh, he's definitely like, yo, he's like, Yo, I say, I can make the bond.
He's like, But you don't have a job.
He's like, I gotta go to court, say you're not, I gotta go to court and try to act like I need bond reduction.
I'm gonna put my resort in Cabo up.
Let's collab, and so I'm waiting, and the dude's like, Yo, that's him.
And I'm looking down the hallway, like, no, they're not talking about me.
Who are these guys talking to me?
Yes, yeah, that's who slapped my sister.
And I was, I was like, Who is this abusive guy?
Like, why would I him up?
I don't know who they are talking to me.
And then they, yeah, yeah, I'm gonna, I whoop your ass when you come in there.
And I'm like, oh, am I the only one in this hallway?
Oh, so they're talking to me.
Oh, okay.
So, my first thing is like, yo, as soon as I get in there, we're gonna, we're gonna see because I do not like to be then.
Then you have a friend who was like jacked and tall and broad.
Oh, that's Brian.
Brian, he became a friend too.
It's Pooh Pooh and Brian.
They, and this is this is the shit that they do to bother people when they're getting ready to come in.
So, as soon as I get in, I put my stuff down and I'm like, Yo, what's up?
And dude's like, What?
I said, You said I slapped your sister.
Pulling The Gun On Tink00:15:22
He's like, I'm fucking with you.
So, I'm like, Yo, but I'm still wanting to fight because you made up this narrative about me, and I just want to get it on.
I don't have, but I used to hear about this tank when I was in the street, 10v3.
It's 1301 Franklin Street.
This is a notorious place, okay?
And you would hear about it, they be squabbling in 10v3.
Yeah, you would hear about it, and people would say, You don't want to go to a corner tank.
And so, when we're assigning people tanks, I'm just sitting there, I'm standing there, and they giving all these people these other floors.
He gets right to me and say 10v3.
I'm like, Ain't that some bullshit?
So, that's my that was my whole thing.
I still wanted to fight.
And did you guys end up no, they because they was just bothering me.
So, then maybe I'm in this tank for about what fighting my case about five, six months.
Now, I'm doing the same shit.
Tell other people, that's him.
Okay, so you get convicted because you end up going to prison.
Okay, upon conviction, you say you've never been afraid, but you have to be like processing outcomes, right?
Like, are you worried about, oh, I'm going to bump into this person who has beef with a friend of mine on the outside?
Like, I don't really have a lot of beefs on ours.
My crew was protected, but my whole crew was locked up.
They got all of us at one time.
So it was a homecoming.
So it was like, yo, all of y'all, come on this way.
So I really wasn't concerned about that.
Was it really the last drug deal you were like, legitimately?
That was legitimately.
I was done.
And he got pulled into one last year.
It was like a movie.
And I wasn't even supposed to be at this shit.
Like, I was literally out.
What do you mean?
You were out.
Yeah.
You decided you're doing something else.
Don't partner.
I'm done.
I'm out.
I'm done.
Do one more with me.
And he's like, yo, man, just do this last run with me, watch my back.
And I'm like, okay.
And then I'm there.
And I kept saying it.
Like, we never would have been locked up if Mo would have listened to me and wasn't on his.
See, when people have financial woes, they make bad decisions.
Yeah, desperation.
You know, you get an attitude with your friends.
You got all this shit.
So I get there and we in this hotel room and they won't let me go to the bathroom.
They say they taught something wrong with their taught it.
Okay.
And this is just me processing all of it.
So when we sit down and they bring out the money, the first thing I ask, I'm like, wow, 150s?
This is a drug deal.
150?
I'm like, oh, that's weird.
Why?
Because lower amounts would indicate when you sell drugs, it's going to be a lot of tens and fives and 20s and sliced up wars.
That's what you're getting paid in.
And then if you got clean bills, it's probably coming from a sting operation.
And it's clean bills.
And I asked, I said, hey, what's these numbers on the money?
And they said, oh, man, that's a bank numbers came from the Franklin Bank in New Orleans.
I just left New Orleans.
And I'm like, Franklin Bank, Franklin, Franklin.
I said, okay.
So I thumbed through the money and then I did the sign.
I knocked on the table three times, which is supposed to tell Mo, this is the police.
We've done.
Let's dip.
We go outside and I say, Mo, tell Charles, don't come to the parking lot with the coke.
This is bad.
He goes down and tells Charles once I find out once we get locked up and we had to go to court together.
Charles told me what he said.
He said, oh man, he man, your boy nervous.
And man, it's all good.
And I'm asking Charles as a grown man.
Why would you think I was nervous for me since I was 14?
When was I?
When was I ever nervous?
All right, guys.
Not that many show dates.
Dubai.
I'm going to be there for the Dubai Comedy Festival, October 5th.
The tickets are already over half sold out.
So hurry up and buy those tickets.
And last but not least, I'm very excited.
I went to India like a month or so ago.
I interviewed some people.
I'm very excited about it.
I also interviewed one or two people in the States, and I'm going to start dropping those.
My first episode with Rami Youssef.
We'll be dropping either this week or next week.
But look for it on my YouTube page.
I'm very excited about this.
I love y'all.
Thank y'all.
Let's get back to the show.
What's up, guys?
Special announcement.
I want to shake your hand.
I have a very secret and special and important message for you listening.
Yes, you, right now, driving your car working.
And the best way for me to tell you that is if you come to my shows, I'm going to Portland, Oregon, Fort Worth, Austin, Texas, Stanford.
I'm also doing the Hard Rock in Times Square in New York City.
I'll be doing a show produced by my good friend Alex Media on July 19th.
Also at the end of the month.
Oh, I'm sucking sick.
Suck his dick.
Suck his dick.
Dude, please don't.
Dude, Father Ben, my priest, hit me up and he was like, yo, why does Akash keep saying that?
I ain't said that.
Why don't you get his dick sucked?
Chandler, Arizona, Washington, D.C., San Diego, Burlington, Vermont.
And then also, at the end of the month, we're doing a show at Maryland, New York City.
It's my show with Joey Avery.
I'll see you guys there.
I can't wait to tell you my secret message.
See me after the show.
What's up, guys?
Finally, I'm here.
I'm throwing a show, comedy show.
It's going to be fun.
No two-drink minimum.
Fuck all that shit.
Just buy a ticket.
And I'm paying the comics more.
And I'm paying comics more because comics be broken.
You know, I do good stuff.
Do not suck his dick.
Why not?
Because that's why.
Because that's why.
Do not suck his dick.
He's an engaged man.
We're talking to the dudes when he's married.
You can suck his dick because then that's all that stops.
Yeah, but if it's dudes, it's not cheating.
That's true.
If you're a man, you can suck his dick because he.
Oh, fuck.
This is going to be an episode.
Okay.
We're throwing a show on the June 28th at Barloom and then also July 19th at the Hard Rock.
July 10th.
What was that on?
It's July 18th.
Cancel Comedy, right?
Cancel Comedy?
Cancel Comedy, July 10th.
We're making it a day from the show.
Just go to Cancel Comedy X on Instagram.
Check the bio.
We'll have a link for all the tickets.
And let's get back to the show.
How you and Charles became friends is the funniest story in the show.
This might be my favorite story in the whole.
So Charles is running the apartments.
And what does that mean?
Like, he's the supply for mostly everybody in the apartments.
Scott.
That's selling something though.
And what we live at is maybe one, two, three, like six sessions apartments.
Okay.
So everybody got their own little section, but the greens is where nobody goes.
They swear the police is over there.
So I'm buying my dope from Ronnell, which is Charles's brother-in-law.
And they in the crew.
You don't generally meet Charles.
Yeah, you don't really meet Charles.
You just don't want to.
So I'm buying my little stuff from Ronnell.
And I decided to go to the Greens.
And how I go to the Greens is because it's a homosexual guy named Tink that tells Ronnell it was very sassy.
He was buying something from Ronnell.
And he was like, Ronald, why I got to buy my cracks of remote.
Tink is fucking crazy.
The outfit is...
Tink must have been like a fan of what's the man?
Simmons, Richard Simmons.
Because they had on like these little big ass Carl Lewis shorts, right?
And these leg warmers.
And he had this hat and he had a curl that really didn't take.
So it was just wet hair.
He had on a half shirt that said thriller.
Okay.
So he's terrible.
But when he, when he buy, I run around and catch him in the parking lot.
And I was like, hey, Tink, it's people over there.
Yeah, we over there.
All you got to do is come over there.
I bring you everybody.
So when I get to the pool, I get to the pool here.
He told me to wait at the pool.
And it's like, yo, he wasn't lying.
It was so many fiends over there.
They started coming out like thriller, like Michael Jackson.
So I'm over there, son.
So I'm.
Now he's making money.
Oh, so you're servicing this area that nobody went to except for the cops were green.
But it was really just gay people.
Yeah.
Tink is the only one that's gay.
Everybody else is just regular meals.
Tinker's the only one over there with this bullshit.
You seen Thriller, you buy one.
So, and Ronnell notices that I'm buying more from him, you know, very rapidly.
So Charles wanted to meet me.
And everybody hang out at the park.
I don't know why drug dealers take over a park, but it's very.
They like the greenery.
I'm going to be honest with you.
It's not even a green part.
This is a park in an apartment.
Where they put down some like rug.
Some structure on top of it.
This is crazy.
They're doing their best.
You can look and see the pool.
So I'm over there and Charles wanted to meet me.
And I came over there to buy something from Ronald.
And Charles keep trying to talk to me.
And I'm like, no, I don't want to talk to him.
Wait, why?
Why?
Because this is like Nino Brown.
Oh, that's the top guy.
I don't know.
I don't.
Charles did.
Hey, man, what's up, little man?
I'm like, hey, can I just get my stuff so I can go?
And then Charles, like, hey, man, he told me that I was going to work for him because I was selling so much.
No, he said, hey, man, you're going to work for me.
I'm like, no, I'm pretty cool.
He said no to it.
And then Charles, at the time, I didn't know what this gun was.
You know, I found out later, but this was the biggest gun I had ever seen, which was a Desert Eagle.
And he pulls his gun out.
He's like, hey, man, what I say you gonna do, you're gonna work for me.
And I had a 25 automatic that I had two weeks prior gotten to with this dude and took his gun.
His gun fell out and I got a crackhead.
His gun fell out.
I kept it.
So when he pulled out his gun, I pulled mine out.
I'm like, no, I'm not going to work.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
A guy points a desert eagle at you.
And then in that time, you take out your gun and point it back at him.
Is there any concern that normal people without you have like, for some reason, have like no fear?
You have high fear tolerance.
But normal people would be like, if I pull out my gun, this person's just going to shoot me and then I'll die.
Why were you not worried that that was going to happen?
Because he got to shoot.
Yeah.
You got to shoot.
You can't pull something on me.
You got to shoot.
Actually, I've heard this.
Like, if you pull the gun out and don't shoot, some people say like they're not willing to shoot in the first place.
I've been, I have had a gun put on me three times and I've never been shot by either person.
This is actually the worst thing that happened because now you're probably too confident.
Saying either person, which lets me know someone pulled it on you twice, but that's no three different people.
Okay, okay.
And if my boy Kid Styles here, Kid Styles, he'd be like, yep, this is what happened.
A dude put a gun on me because I was ribbing on him in the parking lot.
This is what I'm getting at.
They're going to be the first to shoot.
Okay, he gets mad because I'm talking about him in the parking lot and he pulls his gun on me.
And I look towards Kid, I said, Kid, he about to get his ass whooped.
And I turned and I said, hey, you better put that gun up before I fuck around and get mad out here.
And then I just turned back talking to Kid.
And he put his gun and kid was like, yo, you are a crazy man.
I was like, man, if he was going to shoot, he would have shot.
Because if I pull out on you, I'm going to shoot your ass.
Yeah.
I'm for 100% going to shoot you.
Yeah.
It's not even a doubt in my mind that I'm going to shoot you.
I'm going to blow your fucking brains out.
Because in my mind, I can't pull a gun on you and not shoot you.
Right.
That's me.
But what happened in this situation where he pulled the gun out?
We're in the middle of Jamaica, Jamaica.
It's a club.
All these people out here, you're not fucking finna shoot me.
Got it.
Got it.
So you were telling Charles, you were basically like, oh, Charles, that was another person.
But going back to Charles, when I pulled my gun out, Charles is a big dude.
It's not a small dude.
Yeah.
Charles snatched my gun out of my hand and said, this motherfucker got hard.
And I'm still sitting there with my hand like this.
You just got your gun finger up and no guns.
And the way he says his special smarts, he's like, this landmark put a gun on me.
Like, he's laughing about it.
Then he snatches it.
Nah, he is.
This shit is like all he.
This in his mind, I just got hard and I pulled a gun on him.
He don't give a shit.
So he respected it.
Yeah.
And then gave him my gun back and told me, man, anybody with you, man.
You let me know.
Get the fuck out of here.
Yeah.
So do you think a guy like him is so feared that he's actually looking for people with heart?
He's looking for people with heart.
And especially you're like 16 at the time, right?
14.
Oh, 14.
Yeah.
Oh.
The young ones, you want to get them early.
Yeah.
And if you see a young guy with heart, you're like, I can, I can school this guy up.
And he's like, he's either going to be with you or against you.
I can teach him whatever he needs to know, too.
Like, I can teach him all that.
God.
Now, were you calculating that in the moment?
Were you like, I have to show him that I'm not scared?
Or it was just a knee-jerk reaction of you pulled a gun on me.
And okay, I got a gun too.
Yo, shit got a flash, though.
Because if this shit get crazy, I'm going to shoot you.
Now, I may not hit you because it's a 25, which is the most inaccurate gun of all time.
But it's the fact because I've already acclimated myself to what's going on out here.
At first, I was very naive to it, but I've been through some little instances out here.
So I got to get my shit together.
Even at 14 years old.
Yeah.
Drug dealing is not an easy thing.
If I would go back to 14 in this whole situation, I would just hoop.
I'll just do so.
Give me a heart.
Frame my mind for something else.
But and I, and the crazy thing is, I never had to be out there.
Yeah, I was thinking like both your parents and your mom successful.
Your dad, your dad also, was it like a courier service?
Carrier service.
Yeah, carrier service.
And he was, my dad never sold crack.
He only sold powder because that's who he was doing all this carrier stuff for with these attorneys.
And they, could you give me some powder?
And then he started selling powder because he's selling it to the attorneys.
Yeah.
Hilarious.
Leaving Comedy Behind00:15:08
So he's doing the money drops and the exchanges for the attorneys.
Because this is a time where I guess I guess what you're not going to be like sending bank transfers or whatever like that.
This is an in-person.
He started that company in 1980.
So you have these successful, obviously smart parents.
You don't have to deal drugs.
Not at all.
You're in the environment, but then your mom moves away at a certain point in time.
She moves to a nicer area.
So like there is a version.
You're clearly like a smart guy.
Is there ever a version when you're like around this world where you're like, what am I doing?
Like, I don't have to do this.
This is why I was getting out.
Yep.
Okay.
Okay.
Like, man, I'm this shit is for the birds.
And what, what am I doing?
How much money do you have at that point?
I'm curious.
About, I'm going to say tangible bread.
So 84 pounds.
I'm probably sitting on like 230.
Wow.
230 cash.
Yeah.
Cash.
Which is at how old?
I'm at this time.
I'm 19.
So 19 years old.
Quarter million dollars in cash.
So I'm going to say 18 because I'm about to get out before because my birthday is October 17th.
So I turn 19.
We get bussed on the 21st.
So I was only like 19 on the street for like four days.
This is a terrible president.
Here's a question I had when I'm watching, though.
You got 230 cash.
Afterward, you're like, I'm out.
That's not quite enough that you could just invest it and be like for life.
Where you got that from?
No, dude, at the time.
I think we're talking about 80s.
That's probably for the rest of your life with 230 cash.
No, you start a business.
You could.
So what is your plan beyond this?
You have a plan like I'm going to do all type of shit going on.
Like, I wasn't just making money from telling.
I had a condo my mama know about.
I could have released that out.
I had all type of shit going on.
I had invested in this rap group.
I had a lot of shit going on.
So that's what I was wondering.
Because I know you're talking about it.
But 230 in the 90s, the early 90s.
Crazy.
Yeah.
In Texas.
Yeah.
I'm in Texas too.
Yeah.
19.
That's a lot.
No, it's a lot.
I'm curious if he doesn't get locked up.
Is there a point when he's like 25 or 23 where he's like, man, I was making so much money before I could go right back to that?
Because that is kind of what happened at 16, right?
We were dating that girl.
Everything is good.
And the money was to be a little bit different.
I was chilling.
Charles get out.
I'm looking for you, baby.
So just saying, that's 16.
And I'm a kid.
So I'm a super kid at this point.
I'm just in high school.
Now, just move up to night.
I'm out of school.
Yeah.
And I'm moving around and I'm good.
I got 230 cash.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Investments.
I could have started anything at that point.
Did you have to manage street politics at that age?
Like, did you maintain business relationships with other rivals?
Were you well-liked?
I was mostly, I'm a kid, so it's not a lot of people who know me.
I'm not, Charles is the main front face.
But I think that sometimes people get the eras mixed up.
Okay.
See, the early nights, this is early, late 80s, early 90s.
It's not like whatever this shit is now or in the middle of the 2000s.
I didn't have to know anybody because nobody is coming from their side of town to my side of town.
Oh, God.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm not even going three streets over.
That's not my best.
Now it's so interconnected.
But before it was neighborhood by neighborhood.
It was like people was trying to take over.
You're trying to take over a city now.
But then it was, I just need my block, my apartments.
Yeah.
And the apartment complex.
You know how many people in an apartment complex?
Yeah, yeah.
You got everybody that you need right in front of you.
And what you, I wouldn't even find out what people were doing until Memorial Day.
Memorial Day is when all the big drug dealers and successful ones go to the beach, go to Galveston and kick because everybody off.
And you just go in, and this is where you show your car off.
What kind of car you got, who you with, all this thing, your whole crew.
You know what I'm saying?
So that's how you knew, hey, man, what's up, Sherman?
People that you know, or you go to the club and you see people who I was never supposed to be in anybody's club.
Yeah, you were just.
But I've been in the club since I was 15.
I've never been supposed to be in the club.
Was ever a moment where like you're 15, 16 years old, and there's like grown women that you have access to?
Yes.
And they don't even know that you're a teenager.
I know.
So they were.
I'm like, yeah, I'm like, okay.
Wow.
Okay.
So you're 15.
You're with grown women.
You got a quarter million.
Well, by 19, you got a quarter million.
But I had a, my girlfriend was a girl that I went to high school with.
I kept my girl.
But in the streets, you got a grown woman.
Hey, what's up?
I'm like, hey, what's happening?
But I'm not going to be seen with her.
The grownest person was Adrian.
Yeah.
So I'm 18.
Adrian's 24.
And Adrian's fucking awesome.
This is awesome.
And I don't even know why I like it because she smokes cigarettes.
But Adrian's fucking awesome.
Like, anybody ever saw me with Adrian?
It was like, yeah, she is fucking awesome.
Like, I don't, she was fucking awesome.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Smoking cigarettes in my BMW.
I've never used this answer.
She was the only person that ever used it.
She was weird.
I wasn't drinking.
I wasn't smoking weed.
I wasn't doing any of that.
I was just a doodle.
I wasn't even in the streets like that.
I was the person that picked up the money now.
So you had other guys working on it.
But you got other, you got other in this operation.
You got you scale up.
Who got you into the life?
Like, how did that happen?
Nobody got me into it.
You outside.
The shoes got made fun of.
That's what you got.
You outside.
I relate to that because it's like, I have a similar story, but not nowhere to the level of where you're at, but just doing knucklehead shit.
And I didn't need to do it at all.
Like, I was good at home.
My mom had no idea the stuff I was doing.
That's why one of the funniest stories is when you actually get locked up and you have to call your mom and tell her.
He didn't want to call her at all.
My mom had no idea I was doing any of the shit that I was doing.
That's so great.
Worst thing when you got to call and reveal your fucked up life to your mom.
And I was there for really two weeks before I called my mom.
You didn't go home for two weeks.
Your mom's probably weird.
I didn't live with my mom.
Okay, got it.
So she's used to you not at least.
She used to me not.
Were you still calling her like, hey, what's up?
Just checking in?
No.
Can't call her from the jail.
No, I'm open that first call.
Didn't you do a three-way?
So it did.
Oh, yeah.
Buffer.
The buffer, man.
This is terrible, man.
Okay, so what happens when you tell it?
What?
Oh, my mama is pissed.
She is like, yo.
How do you break it to her?
What do you say?
What is the first thing you say?
You told me I need to be out when I was 18.
I said, I said, man, they say that I was selling.
They say, well, I'm like, what the fuck do you mean?
They say the fence.
They say I was selling drinks.
Like, it was just terrible, man.
Now, does she immediately is she furious?
Does she step into mom mode where she's like, I need to protect yourself?
Okay, she couldn't.
Oh, that's heartbreaking.
You on the phone like the damn.
Yeah.
And you, this, you turn, this is how you turn the phone up.
You feel deflated.
You're like, damn.
Man, hang up, Byron.
And she's like, where you at?
I'm like, I'm in the county, man.
What's your bond?
She was like, and I'm like, hey, we can make this bond.
And she's like, what?
Man, you know, remember I used to come to your house and plant stuff in your garden?
Like, yeah.
Yeah, you're going to have to dig them begonias up.
My mom was pissed.
That line killed me in this video.
You can't dig up them begonias.
I cattle.
But she was pissed, bro.
My mom was.
Because she, it's like real, real time.
I was not honoring everything that she had been through to make our life good.
Yeah.
And I think that's what people don't think about.
Just like even now, these kids that's in the streets, you don't want to honor your family.
You rather make some dishonorable shit to appease people that don't really have any type of they had nothing to do with your life.
There's a Akash said, like, we were just talking about your specials, and Akash had like, I thought a really great take on especially domino effects.
And yeah, I want you to say more, but like this idea that like you take accountability for your actions.
Yeah.
A lot of times, you know, especially in comedy, a lot of us are talking about the things that have forced us into these situations.
We are the victims.
Yeah, and it's like so sad for me.
It's like a cool, rare take where it's like, no, I made these decisions and I did this stuff.
And I think it's very easy to be like, well, society made me or these things made me.
But even now, as you talk about it, you're like, no, no, I disrespected my mom's sacrifice.
She did everything that she could have done to make me not do these things.
I thought that that was, I thought that's a brave take.
I think that's a huge thing about honor.
And so when you hang out with other, with other ethnic groups, other cultures, they have a big thing.
Like, I don't know not one Pakistani guy that I actually personally know that's not what his parents told him to be.
I don't know not one Indian guy that that doesn't do what his parents told him.
He fucked up.
Yeah.
You think my parents saw me to do this?
Doctor Oya.
I tried.
I tried.
You tried.
I tried.
I tried as hard as hell.
He gave it a try.
His mom thinks he's in the circus.
You know, and that's the thing that we lose honor in this society.
I want you to go out and just be a good functioning human being.
No, fuck that.
I want to drill.
What?
Yeah.
And you start to take on America's theme of the bad guy.
Everybody wants to be the bad guy.
Get money at any cost.
Good guys finish last.
Yeah, yeah.
No, they really.
No, they don't.
No, they really don't.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
They finished safe.
You see.
Last.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They finish safe.
Yeah.
And it's a, it's a, my favorite line of all of the specials is it seems like I'm the only one locked up for what I did.
Why?
Because everybody else was, I'm, hey, I was innocent.
They framed me.
I'm like, they framed you.
Okay.
You just finished robbing somebody two cells over.
I think they got you pretty fucking pegged down.
But you still here robbing.
What do you think?
Yeah.
You know, that was, it's embarrassing.
I had it.
We were doing a pod budget, Charlamagne and I had a guy in the pod, and it's just really great stories and hilarious, but he ended up getting locked up for, I think it was like 10 years and for something he didn't do.
And I asked him and I was like, can I just ask you, did you do other shit that you should have got locked up for?
And he goes, I should be in here for 200 years.
So it's like, maybe they didn't get you for the one, but there were some Capone.
Capone like evaded taxes or whatever.
Like that motherfucker deserved to be locked up when Conrad opened up.
And then when he died, a syphilis.
It's like, hey, can't get you on this, but take that syphilis and go.
It's a thing, even in comedy.
You have this thing where people feel like you owe me something in comedy.
I'm supposed to, or you have this entitlement.
Yep.
And I'm like, nah, it really doesn't work like that.
So I'm a lot of times comics, especially young comics, used to be mad at me, especially when I was in the club.
I would come in, I'm headlining, and I'm putting all of your stuff out of the green room because this is an earned space.
Oh, interesting.
I didn't come with you.
If you didn't come with me, then this is not your space.
Interesting.
You have to earn this space.
It's like I had to earn it.
Damon Waynes was at my home club at the improv, Houston.
Great club, by the way.
And he asked for me to come or they asked for me to come.
He didn't know who I was.
They asked for me to come.
And I get there Saturday.
No, Friday.
I do Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
Somebody had, he had replaced his feature for Thursday.
He didn't like him.
And I just came into town, asked me to come.
So I came up there.
I never went in the green room.
Out of respect for him.
Then Sunday, he had his son-in-law, hey man, can you get out of here for me?
I came in the green room.
He said, I understand this is your home club.
I'm like, yeah.
Why did you, why didn't you come in this green room?
I said, I wasn't invited.
And he said, you old school.
I'm like, very much so.
Because now, say, if you got all your stuff in the green room, Dick Gregory takes a nap between the shows.
So you're going in and out of the door while he's in.
If you come with, if I came with you, then yes, I'm in there.
You know, if I did not come with you, I'm not going in the green room.
I don't know what you got going on in there.
It's not my space yet.
You have to earn the space.
And the feature wants to, the opener wants to, hey, man, no, because I didn't come up like that.
I came up under this is the space for the headline to get himself together.
Curating The Night00:08:42
Right.
Feature and host, y'all find somewhere in the club to be.
Yeah.
And that's what it, that's what it is.
And they, and they didn't, they never understood it.
But then you get to the space where it's yours, and then you understand.
Like, hey, man, I'm in here.
You, I'm in there trying to get my mind together.
You in here talking about some other shit.
God knows what I'm saying.
You in here arguing with your wife while I'm trying to get my mind in your life.
I'm like, get your ass out of here.
That's not, I don't want that type of energy.
Yeah.
And then, especially if I don't know you.
Yeah.
Just like going on the road, like this new thing that people do.
It's crazy.
You probably get this.
You'll go in on Instagram or somebody that messaged you, hey, I hear you coming to Seattle.
I would like to be your opener.
Right, right.
I don't know you.
It's not about you being funny.
I don't know you.
And being in this space is an intimate space.
You want your friends around you.
I'm not some strange person that you have no idea who they are.
So then you put them on the show and then you listening.
Yeah, I fucked the elephant last night.
You're like, what?
Yeah, yeah.
My audience don't agree with this.
Yeah.
Yeah, there's a version of it where it's also you're curating like a night for those people in the audience and you're putting in a variable that you really don't know what could happen.
And I think a lot of us come up where like, I just want the opportunity to open for somebody.
And you think that maybe by opening for them, maybe they'll take you on the road.
And that does happen and it is awesome.
But the best way I think it's ever been done is like comics will ask to open and they'll just send a joke.
And if I watch a joke and I think the guy's like hilarious, I'll be like, oh shit, this is awesome.
Yeah, it'd be great to have like a local guy on.
But the entitlement of just, yeah, let me do 15 minutes in front.
It's like, do you not think that I don't have like some friends that I've been doing comedy with this whole time that I would love to give that opportunity?
But we have an hour and a half to do this show.
I think a lot of times maybe when you're young in comedy, and I'm sure I'm guilty of this, it's like you don't think about like what the headliner is creating as a night for the audience.
And it's important to not interrupt that.
The best way for me is to use someone who knows me.
100%.
That knows you.
Oh, I got on the first time I ever opened for DL.
Malik S called me.
And then DL like, yo, I want him to do the show.
Like, now if I qualify.
If I send somebody to DL, hey, DL, you in Cincinnati, if you can allow this person.
Yeah.
It's coming from me.
So if anything happens, it's on me.
You don't have any type of buffer.
Yo, it's funny.
The guy who sent me a clip asked me to wreck for someone else who is in town.
And it does make it so much easier in that way when your friend who you believe in their comedy goes, yo, this kid is nice.
He's funny.
And he's familiar with their stuff.
He's not going to fuck an elephant on the stage or whatever.
Because that shit is important.
I don't think that people realize, I don't want to call it our anxiety, but like when you, when you create something and I like calling it art because I think it art, when you create it with those expectations, you don't want to disrupt that.
Don't want to disrupt it.
It's like you have to get validation and you have to get past.
Yeah.
You know, from somebody else to somebody else.
Everything in my career, I've got past.
I got on Ari's show because of Eric Abrams.
Oh, Abrams suggested you to R.
Yeah.
And that's the, that's where it came from.
Yeah.
And Eric Abrams has directed every special I've done.
Really?
It's just Eric and Jordan.
Me, Eric.
Keeping that guy.
Jordan is great.
Me, Eric, Jordan, Joe, Matt.
Wow.
We just, just the four.
Yeah.
Four wise me and me.
It's like, and we just rolling.
And if somebody else, before they bring somebody else on, it's always a conversation.
Yeah.
You know, it's not, oh, this is, this is such and such.
It's just a weird thing.
And I think that now younger comics have gotten entitled where we owe them something.
But what bones do you know that I made?
Like, what do you know about my career?
Yeah.
Other than, oh, you see a special.
No, I've been doing stand up for 27 years.
I think what some might know is that you're going to have sold out shows that weekend and they can't wait to get in front of sold out crowds.
So you want to skip the club and come to the theater?
Yeah.
And the theater is a different monster.
This is something that I think is important.
I think a lot of comics learn is silences in theaters are very different than silences in a small club.
You got to be very comfortable owning those moments.
And that's a skill you learn.
Like theaters expose jokes that aren't ready yet.
You know what I mean?
Jokes and people.
It's a thing.
And 100 people being quiet is different than 2,000.
It's a different monster.
You're right.
And then you have to, even when you first started doing theaters, did you realize how tired you were after the show versus when you were doing clubs?
Yeah, there's a different...
I think it's because you put so much hours.
Like, you know, my journey was I was doing clubs kind of pretty early and I did like three or four rounds before I ever even got a door deal.
Like I did maybe two rounds of clubs where I was selling them out and I got those bullshit bonuses they give you where you sell out the whole weekend.
They're like, well, here's $500.
Five extra $100.
And I was like, I'm rich.
The club made $100,000 on me that week.
I got $500.
Like, I'm so excited.
But I think I did that a few times.
So, yeah, you start to understand the pacing of that size room.
And then when you first make that jump into the theater, I definitely remember it's like, ooh, that joke wasn't ready yet.
I could sell it in the club, but the theater, the joke wasn't developed enough for the theater.
I couldn't hold the tension enough in that joke.
That punchline wasn't strong enough to make them erupt.
And it is like a luxury, a privilege to do those big rooms.
But I will say, like, it will sharpen your comedy in a very special way.
And I'm not even talking about the material.
I'm talking about your body.
Because in a comedy club, and what you 20 steps this way, 20 steps that way.
You can engage them.
You're right there.
20 and 20.
You're not really putting, you're putting maybe an extra hundred steps in your life.
A theater, I can't sit right here.
I got to go over there.
I got to go.
So I done done three miles on this stage.
Bang for it.
I done three miles.
You know, you know, something that like, I think even it helped me for theaters is like when I would do clubs in the city, and I've noticed you've done this as well, or you do it, but like, I would sit down and I would try to use like as little energy as possible.
And it was, it was really like testing if the jokes were strong enough to carry it on its own.
I was like, I know I can perform these things, but like, what if I just kind of clip my wings and see if the joke can carry it?
Because you can, we can all like dance up a joke in a small room, but like if you can take almost everything away from it and just focus on that connection.
And I've seen a lot of your stuff.
And I know you talk about walking around, but you'll be seated and you'll let them come to you.
And I think it's like developing that ability to hold attention while not doing anything is crucial for going into these bigger venues because even taking a few steps to somebody that's on the top top balcony, that just looks like sitting down to them.
You know what I mean?
So I did the beacon, right?
And I knew that I didn't want a whole store feature.
I just wanted to do it myself.
It was a thing.
Yo, last year you came.
Somebody opened up, then Ryan Davis, you know.
Of course.
Dancing On Furniture00:04:23
Yeah.
Love my david.
But in my mind, this time it's just me and the people.
Peter Parker, great DJ.
He did his thing.
And then when the lights went out, I heard this eruption like they knew I was.
And I felt like when I was at the DMX concert, I just started screaming for no reason.
I knew he was coming.
I was like, no, man.
Pull the lights on.
I was like, I was like, oh, is this your DX?
So when I walked out, they didn't, they real live didn't know that I was coming out first.
Oh, so it was a real surprise for them.
They're expecting an opener.
Yeah.
And then I watched the whole place erupt.
They're like, oh, no, that's him.
Yeah, yeah.
And this lady DM me and said, it's crazy because I've never done this before.
You walked out and I was so excited.
I just started crying.
And I was like, I'm on some Michael Jackson shit.
And it was like a great compliment that she was so excited.
And like, I've been that excited to see probably one person.
X.
Yeah.
It was like Dead Man DM.
It was crazy.
And when he did a movie premiere in Houston, and he was sitting right in front of me.
And my boy was like, you losing.
I'm like, fucking right.
So he shot a video.
He shot his video in Galveston.
Which, uh, which song?
I forget the song that he shot in Galveston, but you probably can probably find it.
It, um, but his crew was at this club called um Cloud Nine.
And this is back when I was drinking Hennessy, like crazy, I was a crazy person.
So I get thrown out the club because I was standing on their furniture and I wouldn't stop.
So I'm out of the club, right?
And this dude named Wham from Chicago.
Wham come out, and Wham was like a big-time gangster.
He was the only person I ever seen being able to carry a shotgun in the club, like with no, I don't even think he had no license or nothing.
So he comes out, who's standing on my goddamn furniture?
And I was like, I'm so drunk.
I'm like, I'll stand on your furniture.
And he's like, Ali, you need to cut this shit out.
So some other dudes named Fatson, they from Queens.
They started laughing.
I'm like, fuck y'all laughing about.
And when they slip, when they threw me out, it's like the parking lot is gravel.
So I kind of slid.
And the Rough Riders was on this bus.
And I was like, yo, y'all can get it.
And everybody on that fucking bus can get it.
Oh, no.
So they get out of the bus and they walk towards me.
And Wham got a shotgun and said, Now, y'all ain't gonna fuck with him.
He was saying, Ali, go back in the club.
I'm like, no, no, no, Wham.
What they talking about?
I was like, yo, you know, you're losing your fucking mind right now.
I'm like, hey, and then when he, he, I went back in the club and about I'm gonna give it 10 minutes.
I'm right back on that goddamn furniture.
Girl named Sinobia was dancing on the furniture.
And he's like, yo, Ollie is fucking terribly drunk.
Are rough riders in the club at this point?
Yeah.
No, they're still outside.
And Capone, because this comic for me.
Capone brings me here.
I'm doing BBQs and this is a little box.
And I'm like, Capone, I need a stool.
He said, nothing can fit up here.
I'm like, no, I need a chair.
And the microphone comes down.
And then I'm doing my thing.
And the Rough Riders are in the back.
They like in the back.
And I turn.
I did not get into it, Charlie Houston.
And then he was like, Oh, you better not start that shit out.
I said, you know, something, y'all ain't going to do nothing to me because if I go out there and push them bikes over, y'all going to cry.
That's the real domino thing.
And we had a good time today.
They knew I was fucked up.
Did you ever get to meet X just at the booty premiere?
Just at that moment.
Yeah.
Just at that movie premiere.
Yeah, that was before all this happened, though, right?
He didn't remember you from trying to fight his entire crew.
He wasn't there.
They was already sitting up in Galveston.
They was headed to Galveston, but they would stop the party.
But I remember being that excited to see, because it's like I can relate to everything that he was saying that he was saying.
Yeah.
You know, it's not like a lot of new rappers.
I don't relate to none of this shit they be saying.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Like, I'm like, that's what y'all doing?
This sounds stupid.
Really?
All right, guys, let's take a break for a second.
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Protein For Muscle Growth00:07:04
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That's nobody new that you really fuck with?
No, no.
What about not just rap?
What about any other new music?
What's crazy?
Who I was listening to, like real heavy.
Sabrina Carpenter.
What's my girl name?
Ella Mae.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ella Mae.
Yeah.
Real hard.
I'm RB.
I'm more RB.
I like my shit to be soothing.
Yeah.
And I don't know.
You went through enough stress.
I don't want nothing to hype me.
I don't want to be listening to nothing.
I don't want you hyped up.
We need to Ali as calm as possible.
Oh no.
You know, I was doing another podcast.
Whose pod?
Waving a red flag.
Okay.
Okay.
And I almost didn't come on here.
No way.
What happened?
I often called my manager.
I'm like, yo, he got something against black women.
I'm not fucking with him.
You know what I'm saying?
I'm not fucking with him.
Don't believe the internet.
Ali, come on.
So, no, this is what I did.
I went on pivot and watched the whole interview.
Like, I was doing interviews, watching it.
They were like, you got to come out.
I'm like, no, no.
I don't want to miss it.
Like, I can't pause this shit, right?
So as I constantly listened, it made sense.
Yeah.
You know, and I was like, my first, and then you, you said your knee-jerk reaction was to go with, and my knee-jerk reaction, oh, I'm not fucking with it.
And, and that it made more sense because that's what happens with us a lot.
Yeah, it's people that don't fuck with me, period.
And they probably don't even know you.
It's a headline or one line that you said.
Yeah, this is, and this is like, I think we're all guilty of this shit.
And that's why I kind of have empathy when people are saying these certain things.
It's like the version of me that you think I am, I probably would feel the same way as you.
That's just not who I am.
Yeah.
It's like people got mad at me because I said something about Tupac.
Well, he was a fucking dancer.
That's it, first of all.
When I met him.
Like, you mad at me for the truth?
Yeah, yeah.
He was like, this is public records.
What did you say about him being a dancer?
I just said, when I met Tupac, I'm already in the streets.
So when I meet him, he's with Digital Underground.
I meet him with Digital Underground.
What'd he be?
I'm sitting there.
He's in an elevator.
He's there in Houston for a music conference.
I meet him then.
It wasn't the thug life Tupac at the time.
But why would it be when I'm already in the streets?
I wouldn't have looked at him like that.
So then when I go to prison, then I hear all the rest of this shit.
And I was like, oh, okay.
But I didn't see it.
I never saw them in concert.
I never saw Biggie in concert.
My shit started at 14.
Yeah.
They wasn't in the streets like that when I was when I was coming up.
Why does this make people so mad?
Because they got some love affair with a person that they don't know.
It's people that was that was in my DM that probably wouldn't defend their mom like this.
You won't honor your family, but you want to honor the legacy of Tupac when you won't honor your family.
I don't think there's one person on this planet that I actually don't know that I would defend that vehemently.
And I'm going to take my time out to say a threatening message to you, incriminating myself on the internet.
I was like, okay.
And then in my mind, I'm like, people don't understand.
I never said I was the toughest dude.
I'm just willing to defend myself with everything that I have in my family.
You don't have to be tough for that.
I think some people call that toughness.
For sure.
But the level that I'm going to go through to defend myself is crazy town.
You can't even imagine the type of shit I do to defend myself.
But now you're at a level.
People say that shit all the time.
No, no, no.
I don't give a shit about you.
You got so much to look at.
No, no, not that.
Not that.
Not that.
Because it's something I deal with specifically with the situation you just brought up where it's just like there is, you get to a level where people know you so casually.
Earlier in your career, they probably know you intimately.
Your super fans have seen probably 10 hours of your comedy.
They know everything that you, they know if you say this about Tupac, they're like, yeah, because he met him when he was a dancer.
They know everything about you.
Like the people that listen to the podcast religiously, they know everything about us.
So when they hear some like stupid rumor on the internet like that, it was like, yeah, that's not Schultz at all.
Like, what are you talking about?
But the people that know you casually, the bigger you get, the more people know you casually and will start having opinions about you based on that casual nature that will be wrong.
That's where I start to go.
If you fight every single wrong opinion about you as you reach superstardom, you'll never stop fighting.
Never stop fighting.
So there has to be a certain point where it's just like, I know you're willing to die for it, but for the person that doesn't even know you, does that make sense?
Okay, I go with that.
You know what I mean?
But I feel like a part of you is like, but still, if they call me out my name, I'm stinking.
You'll meet them wherever.
They got to know there's a cost.
But you can't be paying that debt every single time.
Because that is the nature of success.
Like, I thought about that.
I mean, we have this conversation all the time where it's just like the cost of success is the lack of understanding of who you truly are.
There are people that think, who's the guy that plays Iron Man?
What's his name?
Robert Downey Jr.
There are people that think Robert Downey Jr. is actually Iron Man.
They don't think he's some guy.
I actually love Robert Downey Jr.
Because he's Iron Man to you.
The Cost Of Success00:10:12
And it took me a long time to get back to him.
And I've always liked his shit, but then he did less than zero.
And I was like, I don't know.
Wait, wait, wait.
What happened with Less Than Zero?
It's some seams when he had semen on his mouth.
I was just like, I was like.
I knew it was engaging.
I knew it was.
I was like, yo, and it took me a while to get back.
And like, I watched all the Iron Man's.
He's like, he got me.
It wasn't until he died in the business that you were like, I forgive him.
I was like, oh, come on with this bullshit, man.
Son, this is the funniest thing, too.
When he first gets locked up, he gets put on a block that is known as back then they call the sissy block.
It's all gay people.
And then there's some OG telling him, like, he's like, I'm not, I need out.
I can't believe they're thinking about it.
And this is the crazy thing.
This is what I learned.
I learned how to speak up for myself.
So the warden, when you get processed on this unit, the warden comes and he asks you questions.
And me being so fucking cavalier, he's like, well, you think you can protect yourself on this unit?
And I said, this, I should have just said, this is why you got to be direct.
Yeah, yeah.
Yes or no.
Me, my cavalier ass, we'll see.
And he's like, okay, cool.
Put his ass on T2.
And I didn't know, right?
So the first time we went to this shit is so funny.
First time we went to E, all these bananas.
Speeding for real.
You're not even chewing.
Speeding into the goddamn cafeteria.
And I come in light.
I'm the last person.
And my boy Elliot was like, what the fuck is you doing over there?
I'm like, I don't know.
I'm just where they put me.
He said, man, you got to get the fuck from over there.
Look at your sellers.
I'm like, I don't know what the whole rest of the prison looks like.
I just know these motherfuckers is weird, but clean.
They've organized the cell well.
And then the night came.
No, Oh, this shit, you can't take this.
You like, okay, I'm in this cell and you in all type of fucking smacking.
You want to talk about Rough Riders?
Wild laugh.
I'm like, what's going on?
And I was like, yo, I'm, and this old, this old dude that's been over there, but it's like PC, this old dude.
And I'm like, I get out.
I said, yo, man.
He said, man, I go to sleep at night.
I don't be up.
Yeah.
So I go to sleep.
I don't know none of the activities.
I know this is fucking tough.
But it's Cadillac over here.
I said, man, I don't give a shit.
I got to get from over here.
What's Cadillac?
That's what it's called.
It's laid back.
No fighting.
No nothing.
He could have done the easiest time ever.
I think listening to guys suck each other off is pretty difficult.
What are we talking about?
He's presenting all that.
Start asking.
I asked.
That's a tough time.
Same place.
I'd have been like, yo, I'm chilling over the whole session.
And old school said, man, it ain't nothing but a couple ways to get moved.
Either they move you or you got to start beating people up.
And I asked them one more time to move me.
And they was like, no.
And then this shit went bad.
And old school was like, oh, come on, youngster, you're fucking the Cadillac up.
And I'm in there hitting people that ain't got shit to do with nothing.
So they take me out.
They put me in solitary for two days.
And the warden comes.
He said, I'm going to put your ass on the worst block over here.
And it was M Block.
I get to M Block.
And this is like home.
Like, they in there gambling.
It's all type of foul prison shit going on over there.
And I'm sitting there like this, sleeping peacefully.
This is like, I'm like, I'm in Cadillac.
You know what I mean?
Like, I'm in the back of the Cadillac.
I'm like, I'm good.
I just, I didn't want to be associated.
That's a hard time to do.
Because then if, because if you're there, people start thinking that you're there for a reason.
And then you could be a victim, right?
Like, you probably could be.
They would have found out, oh, no, they just misplaced him.
No, it was, it was a bad situation.
So once I got to M-block, you were good.
It was straight.
And you knew enough people at M-Block where.
I didn't know anybody on M-Block.
And did anybody not try you on some gay shit, but anybody like test your like they heard why I got moved over.
So they were like, all right, we were.
It's like, yo, that motherfucker was nine stands on that block.
And apparently other people had gone through that.
When you were beating up the guys on the sissy block, did any of them enjoy it?
Were they like.
I've been so mad.
What did you start doing?
What did you start doing?
Don't enjoy it.
Trust me.
Enjoying this beating.
Start punching your zone.
Yo, prison GCs.
I never even thought of that.
I would have been so fucking mad.
That's all it takes.
Some dudes are like, yes.
I'm going to keep that in mind.
If I ever go to prison, someone tries to fight me.
If someone tries to fight me, I'm going to call him Daddy immediately.
That's not the word you do.
It don't work.
That's not a safe word.
That's not a safe word.
That is an awful word.
Oh, it's so bad.
So I can just see, oh, shit.
He's strong.
So bad.
How crazy is it that the COs made you do some shit?
Made you do some fucked up shit just so you could get to a place where you wouldn't do fucked up shit.
Yeah.
I don't understand the whole thing, like, how much control do you have over where you sleep in prison?
Basically, none until you gotta kind of get known.
Does known mean like you curry favor with the COs, or does known mean administration?
Oh, it's above them, yeah, above them.
So, by the end of the time, like you seem like you have high emotional intelligence.
So, by the end of your time there, trustee camp.
Got it.
Like, you're trustee camp.
I'm chilling.
Like, I'm fucking late.
I'm so chilling that I got Dexter Manley moved to where I was.
Um, who's Dexter Manley?
One of the greatest colleges.
Greatest football players of all time.
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on.
So, you find out that Dexter is there.
Yeah.
You politic with the warden.
Yeah.
And you're like, yo, bring him.
Mendoza.
Yep.
And was despite his role, did you guys have some sort of, I don't want to call it friendship, but like Dexter's from third ward in Houston, where I'm from?
No, not Dexter, the warden.
Oh, Mendoza.
Oh, Mendoza was A1, bro.
He was.
How do you build a relationship with these guys?
Like, where does that start?
I imagine it's like a years-long process where it started because the funniest thing.
When I got to Torres, they were in a crazy game situation.
It was a lot of riots.
I came from another unit with, I was considered an old head when I got to 20 years old.
I'm 21.
I'm considered an old kid.
Okay, OG.
I'm coming from a unit of old school cats.
Right, got it.
So when they send us there, they sent us there to get the unit under control.
Oh, there were too many young dudes who were causing problems.
Know how to do time.
Got it, got it.
So they strategically will send some OGs there to get the young guys to kind of stay in line.
Hey, man, because let me tell you about old heads.
That's kind of smart.
Understanding that the prisoners do run the prison to a certain extent.
So you can't just bully them into submission.
You have to kind of work with them.
You need a boss to go over.
Wow.
Like having a veteran in the locker room.
It's Udonis Haslam.
It's like he don't even have to play, but he's going to keep everybody in line.
Hey, man, you can't, you don't want to do your time like this.
You explain to people, man, you don't want to do your time like this.
That's right.
The young guys are coming in.
It's their first bid, and they just like, I'm going to act crazy like this.
And the OGs need to come and be like, dude, this is every day.
Calm the down.
Let's pass this shit in the best way possible.
Talking to people.
So you get tapped.
How does he know that he can?
This is kind of the interesting thing.
Are you already friends with Mendoza?
Not friends, but do you already have like enough trust built up with him?
Mendoza noticed that everybody on my block started enrolling in school.
Interesting.
Okay, so.
And I would come, I would, I was the person that would, with the young, because you had different age groups and old heads go to different, you can talk to them.
You can talk to these group people.
So you had people that was already in the field that started enrolling in school and enrolling trades because now you have somebody who's saying, so this is how you're going to do your time?
What you going to go back outside with?
Trust With Mendoza00:04:12
To nothing.
Yeah.
Go outside there with some sort of education.
You're going to have.
And I look like them.
I'm the same faith.
It's just like now when I go to when they ask me to come somewhere, I don't speak to children that's in trouble like I'm not a part of this trouble.
I don't go in with the, you got to do.
I'm like, let me tell you what I was doing.
And let me tell you how embarrassing this was.
Let me show you how the road that you're going to end up if you continue to go down this road.
And let me show you the weakness in you by showing you how weak I was at this time.
That's why you will never hear me glorifying selling drugs.
Right.
Because it was so crippling to my community.
I remember being Roy Buss Jr., I tell this story.
He still doesn't realize how him Chris Cotton saved me.
Rest in peace, Chris Cotton.
Save you.
Rest in peace, Chris Cotton.
Save me.
We're doing Comedy Central does a festival in San Francisco.
And they're doing Ari's show to This Not Happen.
And I'm there to do the show to tell another story or whatever.
And I'm so depressed because I can't find a road to the theater that wasn't riddled with homeless drug users.
And I'm so sad because my mind keeps saying, What was the role that you played in this?
In this, yeah.
It's probably the Fillmore that you were performing at?
Yeah, this is the offspring of your actions.
Your actions.
And it was, man, I would walk 10 blocks down to go down 10 blocks come around and still with C.
And I was like, I was really depressed.
And when Roy asked me what story I was telling, and Chris Cotton was talking about what he, what story he was telling, and Roy told this, told me the story he was telling about when he got booed at the Apollo.
And he was staying.
He didn't really have no money to stay anywhere.
He was staying next to like this prostitute who was doing her business.
And she had told him about all these people she had to sleep with.
And he had got booed.
And then he came, he was sitting on the steps.
And she walked up and said, it didn't go well, huh, babe?
And he's like, nah.
He said, no, you know, when I told you about them dicks, I was sucking.
Some of them dicks had bumps on them.
But you got to keep doing what you got to do.
He said it's going to be a bump in the road.
And I'm like, I am laughing hysterically.
And it kind of broke me up.
Roy, that is fucking awesomely funny.
Shout out, Roy.
You always did that.
You know, I go through these times where I blame myself for this, even this culture, how these kids, because I was out there a while.
And that's, that's, what was my, my, my initial thing, people was like, well, when you think that you're going to get, you're going to blow up.
And I would always say, when I pay the universe back for the wrongs I've done.
And that's a big thing.
If you believe in energy, you believe in karma, the things that you did that was destructive, you have to, you know, rectify those things before you get to another level and be destructive again.
Paying Back The Universe00:06:44
Like, I don't want to be destructive in my speech.
I don't want to, I don't not want to be a beacon of light for people.
That's why I don't mind telling the stories about prison because some people look at it like, oh, shit, I was in that same condition.
How can I do this?
And I tell them now, this is not the goal.
Yeah.
The goal is to have a normal functioning life.
You don't have to be a, because I don't consider myself no superstar.
I don't consider myself even a celebrity.
I'm not invited to shit.
I'm not a celebrity.
I don't like that goddamn thing.
Yes.
I saw you at the Tom Brady thing.
You was on stage.
I knew everybody up there.
I was just sitting in there.
I was behind earthquake.
I saw you backstage before.
I saw you, but you were on stage.
Yes, yes.
I was invited by my publicists.
My publicist is like, do I do?
Because the publicist that was running the thing, I was paying.
I'm talking about, damn, they should have gotten me a ticket, all that fucking money I was paying for a month.
Yo, it's crap, man.
You're going to pay a publicist.
Five grand, seven grand a month.
Yeah.
Nothing.
Yeah.
Sometimes, sometimes they are effective.
I think early in my career, I was like, this is a fucking waste of money.
But I will say this last run, I thought they did a really good job of like getting, especially for guys like us who do YouTube and like social media stuff, getting mainstream sources to pay attention to what we got going on.
It's almost like Hollywood and like mainstream outlets have no clue the views that we're getting.
Like they're completely uneducated about what's happening on the internet, which is where all the people actually are.
There's a huge disconnect, man.
You talking about, I've been on the Emmy ballot three times.
Yeah.
And people with lesser material, I'm like, okay.
Don't seek justice in this business.
I have to seek justice.
I stopped.
But the point, I keep plugging at this particular thing, the Emmys and the Grammys, because one of us had to win shows.
Yeah.
One of the independents have to eventually win.
And now the floodgates are open if one of us wins anything.
Yeah.
I went out there for this like Emmys thing, this like introduction thing that basically Netflix pitches the people that they're hoping might be nominated and win.
And it was one of those things where it's like, I'll be honest, like one of the execs came over, like, listen, this isn't exactly like a meritocracy.
You know, there are certain people that just kind of get nominated every year.
And I'm not trying to shit on them.
I just think that there's like a lack of understanding of like what we're doing.
And I'm very fortunate that it feels like, especially maybe even with the last special, the mainstream, for better, for worse, there's criticism, but then there's sometimes celebration.
At least it's becoming more aware.
And that's why I've been paying attention to what's happening with you, because at a certain point, the numbers can't be ignored.
You know what I mean?
It's like they just break through on their own.
And like, I witnessed it happen for me, like even being invited to the Tom Brady thing.
Like Tom Brady thing was Sunday, just to put things in perspective.
Friday and Saturday, I did Madison Square Garden.
So it was like, that's where I was in my career.
And that's how I've always kind of looked at things.
In order to get that Tom Brady opportunity, I need to first sell out Madison Square Garden twice.
In order to get JFL, like New Faces, remember that thing?
Yeah.
I had to have five shows on MTV.
And I'm looking at other people on New Faces like they are new because I don't even know your face.
So like, I'm just, I've accepted that it might not be a meritocracy, but I'm going to have to work.
I don't care how many times harder.
I'm just going to have to work to get it.
That's literally why I was very excited for you to come on because I'm seeing what's happening with you.
And is it delayed?
And is the awareness from like maybe typical industry delayed?
Yes.
But is it imminent?
Absolutely.
Because you cannot deny numbers and appreciation.
Skill you can deny.
I think people deny skill all the time.
All the time.
But they cannot deny a wave of interest, a community, an audience that really fucks with it.
You cannot deny it.
And whether you're going to Emmy or not, I feel like your audience won't care either way.
Because they know the real.
They see it.
They consume it.
You know, sometimes you just reminded me of something about Mantra, like with Montreal.
I get, they call me and say, hey, man, you have Montreal.
They want you to come to Montreal.
And you're going to do like six theater dates, but their theaters are smaller.
You know, I wasn't invited to the gallows or nothing.
Of course.
Yep.
So, and I asked, I said, for what?
Like, why am I going?
It's like, what?
I said, I don't want to go to Montreal.
And he's like, no, this is the Super Bowl of comedy.
I said, what do you go there for?
To get management, to have a deal.
And at the time, I had a deal with Comedy Central.
I had an agency and I had management.
I said, did y'all quit or something?
They're like, no, but you just go.
And they had to really convince me to go.
I'm glad I went.
It's an education process, dude.
It sounds crazy.
I know it sounds crazy because I know the exact position you're in, by the way, where it's just like you're doing bigger venues than these people that are getting like nominated for things.
You have bigger numbers and you're just looking at the raw data going, what the fuck am I missing here?
But Hollywood is really a bubble.
Like even anytime I've done a movie, the only people that know me on the movie set are the guys that are like, they're working the set, like the grips, the lighting.
All of you know me.
Because they're the ones that are watching the real shit, right?
They're not watching like, what is this avant-garde new like movie that's in French that like, if you say you like it, shows you have taste in cinema.
Like now the real people will kind of know.
And eventually that becomes so deniable, it trickles through.
Would you do the Adams family?
Would you do Go Mans?
Because I look like them.
Yeah.
Vegas Fight Predictions00:02:07
Spanish fluent.
If they're rebooting, maybe I'll check it out.
I got to read the script for sure.
All right, guys, let's take a break for a second.
Listen, we're in the same stuff that we were last week.
Not like anybody's noticing that, but we would like to bring it up because we're authentic.
Dude, what a finals, right?
Listen, we are.
I mean, unreal.
You know what's funny, though, is like we're recording this right now.
We have no clue if World War III has begun.
You know, like, so, so it is, um, if it has begun, this is what life used to be like.
Yep.
Oh, it's like a little time capsule.
It is a time capsule.
Yeah.
Pretty nice.
Shit, we might be dead right now.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Whoa.
You don't think they get to be?
Why would you say that?
I'm just saying.
You don't got an iron dome yet.
I'm on vacation, bro.
Right now I'm on the same time.
I'm on vacation.
So you're closer to the fucking fight.
Who knows if I'm on vacation?
Yeah, what are you doing right now?
I can't tell you.
I'm not going to give up my location.
God forbid.
God forbid they do some sort of like targeted attack.
I'm not going to do it.
Point that I'm trying to make is that there's a big UFC fight that is this weekend if America still exists.
Okay.
Where is it?
Vegas.
Las Vegas.
Even if it doesn't exist, I have a feeling Dana is going to be like, yo, we're doing it.
He's going to make that Friday.
He's going to make that happen.
100%.
They will be in the desert no matter what.
So, yeah, Taporio versus Olivera.
Listen, with all due respect to Olivera, I can't see how Taporio loses this fight.
Same.
This Taporia guy is Olivera gets touched.
He gets hit.
And he has amazing resilience.
Like he'll go down and then get back up.
But I just, I can't see Taporia not connecting.
And I can't see him.
Yeah, he doesn't have the jujitsu that Olivera does, but he's a great wrestler.
So I just, I don't, I don't see, I think it's going one way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I don't know much from what I'm seeing of Taporia.
It's that he's nice.
I'll tell you one thing that the fight before it is Pantosia versus Car France.
Kai Car France.
Kai's stylebender's boy.
And Pentosha is just an absolute menace.
That's going to be an interesting one right there.
Early Kev And DVDs00:06:24
Really?
That's going to be an absolute, what is it?
A barn burner?
Oh, yeah, barn burner.
Yeah.
Why is that a saying?
I don't know, but Charles Barkley always juggles saying that's a barn burner.
Where does that?
Why is that?
Why do we describe that as like a good thing?
I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know.
I've never seen a barn burn.
I imagine it's probably pretty awesome, though.
Yeah.
Right.
If that shit's going up.
Yeah.
It'd be like a party.
It feels like there might be like something racial under Topia or you're like, this is a real Wall Street burner.
You're like, oh, that's not good.
That didn't work out.
A Dutch farmer burned his own farm down to get rid of rats.
A Dutch farmer burned his own farm down to get rid of rats.
Got it.
Insurance fraud.
Yeah.
We know what that is.
Yeah.
Run 1939.
Yeah.
Anyway, Jesus.
Anyway, bet on the Dagestanis.
All right.
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Now let's get back to the show.
Let me ask you a question that I don't know if you, and you can shit on this if you want to.
I do feel as a minority, there is within the industry a certain type that there's whatever it is, they're a little bit more comfortable with, and those guys get the shots first.
And part of the reason I was so happy to see 85 South get the Netflix special is because I know how talented those guys are.
And I remember being on Wild and Out and I, top to bottom, no disrespect to anybody on this couch.
That's the most talented cast I've ever worked with.
It's monsters everywhere.
And I would go into agencies and be like, I'm on Wild and Out.
And they'd be like, we're looking for like a two broke girls kind of show.
Yeah.
And I know as an Indian, they want a certain narrative.
I feel like with black people, it's a little bit like we want black people that we're not quite so scared of.
They're telling stories about some shit that's like.
They want the skin color to be diverse, but not necessarily the personality and experience.
And I don't know if that's like, I don't know if they're even aware of it.
You know what I mean?
Like, I wonder if it's like.
I remember there was a pilot, and every pilot I've ever seen for an Indian is he's married to someone or in love with someone who's non-Indian or can't get someone at all.
And I was like, yeah, I just don't.
I had a holding deal with ABC and I was like, I don't really want to audition for this.
I was in a position where I felt like I could say that.
And she was like, why?
And I was like, well, I explained the reason.
White exec in LA.
And I don't think she wasn't racist at all.
Poor girl truly didn't understand.
She goes, but he's Indian.
Like that was, she couldn't understand that.
That's not.
She should be happy.
Yeah, you got something.
That is the perspective.
And there was a thing I, and I don't, that's why it's so beautiful that we have YouTube and you got double-digit million views on one special.
And like, you get to talk to your people and do it your way.
And it's awesome.
But I do think within the industry, there's a little bit of that.
And not to discredit anything you're saying.
And you probably might be experiencing both.
But I think there's a little bit of that.
And I'd love to know your opinion on that.
I think we just isolated just to me because I can't speak for what they're looking for.
Because some things that I have done, they have accepted from other people.
I'm saying.
So I don't think that I think because they have not made me, they didn't have their hands putting me together.
This is a massive thing that like I think a lot of times people won't even like to admit.
It's taking ownership over someone's career is very important for people.
Like they want to know, even back in the MTV days, like MTV2 and MTV were separate.
And if you were popping on MTV2, the MTV people are like, but that's not one of ours.
We want to do it.
It's like it becomes part of their identity.
And when you are quote unquote, made, I don't like self-made, like made by the people, like the people decide.
They can't go, we put him on.
Exactly.
And I do, I do agree with you.
There is a little bit of a hesitation.
Like they would, they've invested three specials or three things in this one person.
Rather, that person get this opportunity than this guy who did it on his own and forced his way in.
But I'm telling you, it reaches a breaking point.
Yeah.
You know what, it's title win.
It feels like early Kev.
Like you feel like our guy, our secret that we consume and the rest of the world knows, even though clearly the rest of the world knows about you.
But it's like, it just feels like, oh, that's our guy.
And it's like, we relate to everything.
And I'm speaking from the black point of view.
And Kev just got to a point where it's like, okay, undeniable, Hollywood had to pay attention.
And I feel like you're right there.
I don't even compare it to Kev because I'm so out the box.
Like totally Indian.
Yeah, and I love Kev, but Kev has Dane Becky, who's like the manager.
Yeah, I don't know about all the same type of stuff.
Behind the scenes, he had a machine.
You know, Three Arts and David, they had a lot going on.
It's no machine.
I'm in Houston and I'm generating what I'm doing from Houston, from my hometown with my bread with my own money.
Yeah.
Like that's what I got.
It probably just feels like that to me just because I remember Kev like when passing around the DVDs, like being at the barbershop, and that's how I discovered Devin Hart because the DVDs were going to be in power.
I think you're right in terms of like public perception.
Whereas like, I think the perception early on in Kev's career is like he had some pilot.
It didn't go.
And then it's like he's in the clubs.
I think on the street, people aren't aware of like who your representation is.
It's more just like, oh, he's doing shows at Carolines and he's grinding.
That's a normal thing for every comic has the story where they were selling their CDs and DVDs outside the club.
Like that's a normal thing.
That's not a, it's not isolated to one to one person.
Yeah.
I know I have people's DVDs that I use them as, remember this shit?
Holly going on with that bullshit.
I'm like, I bought it.
I support it.
And it's like, it's like, it's not, I'm talking about before the DVDs.
Before The CD Era00:15:34
You know what I'm saying?
So you had, well, it was no DVDs.
You had just people that had their stuff on CD where you could just listen.
It was, yeah, the audio.
You know, you just the audio with a shitty printed cover.
I mean, it was that's paper.
It's paper.
It's new and it's faded.
It wasn't even like, oh, no, this just fade over time.
No, that started off like that.
And then some weird ass picture of them with a microphone.
Like, yo, man, where you made this at?
Kinkos?
Yep.
You know, that's synonymous with the people who come up in that era.
Errors are very important when you think about comedy, when you think about damn anything.
Like, I was doing an interview with Vlad, and I was talking about um canned goods.
And if you didn't come on his pod and went on Vlad, I'd have been so I'd have been like, Are you kidding me?
It was pulling teeth.
It was another, like, I don't know, you're not finna get me to incriminate me with my old shit.
And I saw a party, you told a great story.
Willie D called me to do that.
Oh, really?
It took a buffer.
Yeah, Willie D called me.
I was like, hey, man, listen, bro.
I know, I know.
Hey, Willie saw it.
I know.
I know.
Yeah, yeah.
He didn't even say me what it is yet.
I'm like, what's up?
Like, Vlad's in town.
He wants to interview.
I'm like, Willie.
And he's like, Leave, man.
Just do this shit.
That's.
I thought it was good.
I thought the views were crazy from it.
Yeah, I got some other feedback about something else, but I ain't gonna talk about that.
But Willie D is a buffer a lot of times when it comes to things.
Yeah.
Because they, because he's very, very respected.
And Willie will tell people, hey, man, let me call him.
Because you calling him it's gonna go all bad.
Yeah.
And then he'd call, hey, man.
I'm like, what's up, man?
Because Willie knows that I'm a different can of worms.
And it doesn't.
I said, and I'd be like, what they say?
I'm coming.
And he knows I'm coming by myself.
Yeah.
And I, because I'm not the crew dude.
And it's something about if you in a if you got a crew of people and a person shows up by themselves, yeah.
If I was in that crew, I would be concerned.
Why is he so comfortable?
We said a bunch of foul shit and he showed up by himself.
Like, does he have a bomb on him?
What are you doing?
And I'm like, yo, man, I be on some John Wick shit.
I was like, yo, if you see me, I'm it's man.
I know how crazy my mind works.
I was mad at this, just these people, and they thought because they had a bunch of people that I was not going to show up.
Yeah.
When I called my friend, I said, hey, do you have a stick of diamond mic?
And he's like, what the fuck are you talking about?
I'm like, yo, I just want to just walk up and just light this shit and throw this towards their ass and stick it down.
You didn't light it if you just put it on the table for the interview.
You're just playing with your lighter the whole interview.
I ain't got to look at the stick of diamond.
Because my friend tells me, hey, man, you know, really, why we don't call you a lot of times when shit happens because you are a fucking grenade with the pen out.
And like, I'm not, I'm not.
You have to, you have to provoke yourself.
I have to be provoked.
But other than that, I'm just fucking happy-go-lucky.
I'm living my life.
That's what a grenade is, though.
Yeah, yeah.
A grenade is just a baseball until somebody kicks a pin out.
You are a grenade, actually.
Yes, because with the pen in, it is no different than a baseball.
You throw it around to your friends, everybody's playing cash and scorch.
See if the penny goes out.
It's like, all right, I'll leave it off the fucking.
everyone's dead now yeah but you know what's weird is this like say like tom segoro yeah he loved he wouldn't say that tom's like he's awesome like i like when it when i'm around it depends on the people that i'm around yeah because sometimes people be extra aggressive for no reason and i just be like towards you just in the room like right i could because sometimes people really have Is there an ego thing?
It's like sometimes an insecurity thing.
This is why I always hated to go do certain shows because I would do shows with Arian.
I know what you say.
And it's like everybody there wants everybody to feel good to feel good.
Yeah, yeah.
But then it's a yeah, I'm finna go wreck this.
It's just all about them.
And I'm like, yo, man, this is show for every fucking body.
Yeah.
And you can be around Bruce Bruce, Don DC Curry, some more, and who else is on that show?
Lavelle Crawford.
Yeah.
Happy as a clam on the show.
I'm the youngest one.
I don't have no, but they know.
They're like, yo, when they mother going because he finna go out.
But they know what it is.
But you happy.
Then you get around some other people.
And there seems to be like a competitive.
Why are we competing?
I mean, you know this already.
It's like, I think there is an insecurity with folks.
And like sometimes people, the way that they present their insecurities is kind of debilitating to like building friendships and building any kind of community.
Like if somebody thinks that you're funnier than them, there are people who are confident that are like, man, I'm a huge fan of yours, dude.
I fucking love that.
Like your skill doesn't make them feel bad about themselves.
Exactly.
But then there's some people who are like, I got to find a way to cut him down because I think in my head he's better than me.
So I got to convince me he ain't shit.
And then you feel that animosity.
And I think that I think that is the worst version of at least our industry.
And I know it presents itself in other industries too.
But it's like, that's the worst.
To be honest, like low-key, I think this is something that Rogan has helped in comedy because he's so supportive.
Like he so wants to shine a light on people he thinks are talented that I think it got a lot of comics who are generally kind of bitter and angry to be like, yo, maybe there's a different way that we could do this.
There's enough.
Yeah, there might be enough.
Like Rogan's mad at me.
Why would happen?
I don't know.
I can't imagine.
We talked all the time.
You guys had a great episode.
That had a lot of great episodes.
And then it's like, I can't even get back on the show no more.
He's not accepting my calls.
What did I do, Rogan?
He did tell me he was taking a break from black people.
He was muscling people.
You know, I reached out.
I'm sure it's nothing.
I mean, I'll holler.
It can't be.
It's one of the things that you that people get busy.
Exactly.
But in our heads, we build it up.
Yeah.
I'm like, Rogan's mad at me.
Nah, nah, nah.
And I'm like, I'm still around all your friends.
I can't, fat.
I'm going to kill Tony.
I'm coming to do it.
Oh, dude.
That's going to be fun.
That would be fun.
When are you going to do kill Tony?
Probably in August because he had some, I was supposed to do it in June or something.
He had something going on.
But Tony came to the club when I did the mothership.
Yeah.
And Tony's fucking crazy.
He's crazy.
Tony's crazy.
Wow boy.
Fucking crazy.
And I like his crazy.
Tony, he walked in and said, seems like your people showed up.
And I was like, but it's all white people out there, Tony.
He's like, oh, I didn't look.
I just know it was sold out.
It's fucking all white people out there.
No, Tony don't give a fuck.
I like it.
Tony's a fucking man.
No, he don't give a fuck.
It's great.
He really doesn't.
It is great.
Yeah, it is, man.
No, it's going to happen, man.
But the interesting thing is that, like, I'm curious once you see the industry support, if you'll even care.
Because I think that you have the thing that matters the most, which is the people.
Like, this is something I learned earlier from Charlamagne, and he's just the best at this.
He's like, you can either be a man of the industry or a man of the people.
You can't be both.
And he always leaned into man of the people because the people are what's going to like sustain you.
Sustain you.
If you're a man of the industry, like you can look at all the Comedy Central comics that like they existed with Comedy Central.
And then as that started to dissolve Comedy Central, really, oh man, I just big shout out to Ann Harris.
She did a great job doing stuff with me.
I was really confused when I did the Our Special.
They showed it at 11.50.
It's like, who the hell is watching comedy on Comedy Central at midnight on a Friday or whatever it is?
And then they never showed it again.
It's like, and something told me this wasn't going to be the thing.
So we just started putting eggs in a bunch of baskets.
I went on Bring the Funny just to gain new fans.
And then people couldn't even see me because for some reason, these damn senior citizens that watch Bring the Funny, they was buying them tickets.
Oh, really?
My demographics went like, yo, you know, everybody out here, 55 and up.
And it was crazy that's who watched the show.
I think that a lot of this stuff has taught me about how people view you as successful.
So I got phone calls about Club Shay Shay.
Yeah.
Oh, we made it.
It's over.
And I was like, okay, but you didn't call me when I was on Good Morning America.
Exactly.
Dude, the game has changed.
Yeah.
It's success is whatever they watch.
Yeah.
What is the, it's the term.
It's like life is a Rorschach.
Was it Rorschach, the ink block shit?
It's like whatever you already feel, you see.
You know what I mean?
Like, if you feel that Club Shay Shay is the biggest platform, that to you is making it not being on this like traditional institution, which is Good Morning America.
But how old are you?
51.
So you're 51.
I'm 41.
Like we grew up watching Good Morning America and seeing Tom Cruise on fucking Good Morning America.
So we're like, yo, that must be making it being on Good Morning America.
To younger people, man, they're not watching Good Morning America.
The only thing that's like being on the local news.
You ain't popped no balloon yet.
No, you're right.
So it's one, it's one of those things that I felt you have to be, I feel that you have to be proud of your journey.
Yes.
You have to be proud of your journey.
Bro.
No matter what happens, you know, and if, and I'm still one of them guys who's still trying to kick over the table when it comes to you the greatest comic of all times because you were in a movie or a sitcom.
I don't think that got nothing to do with stand-up comedy.
It has nothing to do with comedy.
And so people are.
And my thing with Like when I say industry support, I mean the comedy community, right?
Yeah, don't call my phone and ask me a bunch of questions of how to do something and get a bunch of advice from me.
Tell me how I'm the greatest.
And then I see you in the interview.
And you don't say mention.
And when you talk about all these, your top five, these comments, you don't mention, you don't ever mention me.
And you're telling a joke that I wrote for you.
But you say, but you giving this credit to somebody.
I went.
The amount of times I went through this shit, like, I've seen this.
I'll walk people through their whole YouTube special rollout, like do the whole thing.
And then they get some interview and they'll be like, yeah, I did it because I saw this person do it and this person did it.
I'm like, oh, is that why?
That's that's that's right.
No, I was getting compared to you and didn't know what you had going on.
This is great.
He's like, no, yeah.
You doing, you doing the show.
So I'm like, what?
I'm not doing no fucking show.
Shows had a goddamn get run in the room, but he had a fucking street thing.
They had a whole layout of shit.
I'm like, I started.
I had zero.
Do you know?
No, this is great.
It's weird.
You know how many people from YouTube I had when I decided to shoot a special for YouTube?
Yeah.
That was a script that's shocked to me.
Yeah.
28 people.
28 fucking people.
Then I said, hey, I'm going to shoot a special.
And boom.
I'd already been putting out independent stuff.
I've been on X and Radio doing albums forever.
I'm coming to you.
Doing albums forever.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
It's just what you're normally doing.
So you're like, yeah.
I'm just hustling my own shit.
So then I said, yeah, I'm going to put this YouTube thing out.
I shot it for YouTube.
And we had 28 people.
And then I went to this, my manager hooked me up with this marketing guy and said, hey, man, we got to grow your page.
And I was like, on Instagram, I probably had maybe 1,500 people.
Right.
And my Facebook, oh, the Facebook notes was damn the same as YouTube.
I couldn't even get into it.
This is how bad the shit was.
I didn't even know your password.
I didn't know how to get into it because I wasn't checking it.
It was no movement.
So we started creating the movement with the advice from them.
I had no.
When I saw your when I heard your whole thing, it was like, he had a deal.
It didn't have this.
So he put it out on his own.
And I was like, oh, he on.
And then I said, oh, he on some Louis C.K. shit.
He's like, who?
Who exactly?
Kraken Crypto Offer00:05:56
Yes, exactly, though.
Damn, you ain't jerking up me.
Other shit.
But he just goes on.
What's crazy is, you know, you won a Grammy a couple of years ago for an album.
They like, they forgive you.
Oh, yeah.
And I was in the same goddamn heat at the same time.
I'm like, I ain't did that.
Oh, hey, it was so crap.
I ain't talking about it.
So the thing is, when I saw, actually saw your thing, and you had the guy with the smoke was coming out.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm like, yeah, the Bruce Buffer shit.
I was like, and this is, I told my friend, how they gonna say I'm on this shit?
He got all his fucking money.
I fired smoking shit.
But then I'm on some broke shit.
That was my, that was my like fifth thing we put out.
So like the first one, matter of fact, the first one was super early.
The second one we did, we were in Europe.
And this is how, this is how broke it was.
For one of the shoots, we were in London.
We use a gum to balance the camera.
Do you remember that?
Like, because we didn't have a tripod.
We ran out of tripods.
We could only travel with like two or three tripods.
So we got two sticks of gum and we put it under one part of the camera.
And in the wide shot, when people are laughing, you could see the camera shaking.
And it's not because of the tripods, because the gum wouldn't give us enough suspension or some shit.
So we went, I mean, it was just, but whatever.
I know the journey that you were on.
And I respect that majorly just because I've experienced it, man.
Yeah.
And when I started looking into yourself, I'm like, oh, he's getting it like he can.
You know, out the mud.
Out the mud.
And even with the Europe, Europe is fucking over me.
It's crazy.
I've been to London countless times.
So now they passed this law.
If you've ever been convicted of a crime, you can't get in the country.
And I'm like, so we had a tour lined up to go to back to London.
And I get all this.
When you come to the UK, I said, UK is kind of fucking over me.
I'm, I'm like, man, you know, you know, this shit is 30 years ago.
Bro, this is actually crazy.
This is actually awesome because eventually they're just going to like lift that.
And then when you go, oh, yeah, it will be like this celebration.
I, that's actually kind of cool.
It sucks for now, but let me let me call up Uncle Donald real quick.
Eric Abrams, he always finds some good shit here.
No, no, this is what I'm talking about.
This is what you need right here.
You're starving them.
You're starving them.
And eventually when you're able to go, because they're not going to keep that shit forever.
Like, I'm sorry, 30 fucking years ago, you're going to stop somebody from going over.
Can you do something nearby?
Like, can you do like Ireland or France or something?
Yeah, what about that?
I probably can, but they're not asking me to come to Ireland and France.
I remember what's going on.
They get the British people to come over.
London is asking me to come.
Nobody will say Iron nothing anyway.
And I would even say that, like, stylistically, they would be way more used to what you're doing out there.
Like, the long-form storytelling is more similar to European and like British style stand-up than American.
I've been over there.
Oh, so you already know it.
Yeah, yeah.
Plus, I love the pinky blindness.
I'm trying to go.
Awesome show.
Hold on, can we pee real quick and then come back?
Is that cool?
All right, you got anything else?
You know, I got to ask myself.
All right, guys, we're going to take a break for a second.
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Yeah, we should figure that out, Kraken.
Kraken invests in everything all in one app.
Let's get it.
By the way, there's a disclaimer here: not investment advice.
Crypto trading involves risk of loss and is offered to U.S. customers, excluding Washington, New York, and Maine through Payward Interactive Inc.
Stepping Up Your Game00:07:17
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Okay, you're this is your second hour within two months or three months, May 15th.
Yeah, rugged.
Two sons.
Oh, yeah, my two sons.
June is rugged.
It's rugged.
Can you at least give us like a little teaser about rugged?
I know that you're probably protective of your material, but can you?
Rugged is about a man that is on the road and then he tries to come home and be handy.
And this is not his skill set anymore.
No matter how.
Who is this guy?
No matter how great you think his storytelling is, this is how he gets the stories because he just fell off this ladder that he shouldn't have been on.
Don't after 30 years try to be Mr. Fixit in the house.
You Mr. Fixit on the road.
You got to.
You got to try because it's very intimidating for some other man to come in your house and fix something.
And they always like they try to do your wife.
I was just telling him my wife asked the contractor to teach me how to make a fire.
And I never felt so emasculated in my life.
I was like, yo, come on.
I was like, babe, babe, that's a private conversation.
That's a boy scout skill.
Yeah, that's a badge.
Understand me coming home and my garage won't go down and I'm kicking it.
I'm like, babe, garage won't go down.
He came out there.
She I said, don't worry about it.
I'm going to just call the number on the thing.
So I call the man.
He comes over.
And I say this.
I say, hey, man, you need anything?
I'm going to just be right inside.
Just knock on the door.
I'll come right back out.
I didn't even get a chance to close the door good.
He was.
I said, I know damn well he don't want nothing already.
I'm like, well, he said, I'm finished.
I said, what?
He said, you're going to be mad than a motherfucker.
I was like, what happened?
And I didn't like the fact that he did it.
He's at the Instagram.
He's like, yo, you can just.
Oh, no.
He did like three times.
Just show me how it goes.
He could have pretended to take longer.
Be here for an hour at least.
And he's like, no, let me tell you.
This is the part.
Remember I told you you're going to be mad, motherfucker?
This part.
I said, man, how much owe you?
According to company policy.
Oh, don't, don't, don't, don't sorry.
Don't start.
And it was like, it was like $170.
Like, what company fucking popped.
What did you tell your wife, though?
What did you tell your girl?
I ain't say nothing to her.
Yeah, no.
Yo, the dog came off the end of the job.
I got, wow.
Tearing up my house.
I got to make it a whole scene.
Snap in.
Man, you want to feel like a man?
And I'll tell you something more embarrassing.
Do you see how this finger kind of dips down like that?
I was reaching over my car when I was 15 years old to pull the cord, fractured my finger on that exact cord.
But you 15?
Yeah, you're supposed to fuck up.
I'm 51 years old.
This is the like, man, I forgot.
I'm like 20.
It's so bro.
I didn't know how to open the garage from outside.
My wife doesn't know this.
For the last like month, I've been parking my car, going into my house, coming around to the back door of the garage, walking into the garage, opening it from the inside, and then driving the car in.
And then I was in the kitchen, and there's a little bowl, and there was this little like, almost like remote type of thing.
And I was like, babe, what is this?
She's like, it's the garage door opener.
She goes, how have you been open the garage?
I go, obviously, I know the fucking garage.
So I thought you just walk in and then bump it.
No.
The worst is that my girl would compare me to her dad.
Oh, don't do it.
Her dad was an engineer.
So he just fixed everything.
So our dryer breaks.
And I go, let me call the guy to fix it.
She goes, oh, why don't you just fix it?
I go, we should just let him do it, right?
And she goes, oh, it's so weird.
My dad would just fix it.
Well, call him.
We're not doing that.
See, you have a girl, a wife.
No, he got a wife.
He killed him.
So you just call your girl good.
Good.
See, I can't call mine a lady who lives in my house.
She refuses to go by that.
But when I say it the shows, that's when everybody comes up and says, hey, this is the lady who lives in my house.
It's like, it's a fun thing.
The lady who lives in my house.
A roommate, maybe.
It's weird.
Yeah.
It's because you're on the road for so long.
You develop a very specific set of skills, right?
And they're, thank God, appreciated by a lot of people.
And we can provide and we can do these things.
But because of that, we never develop the most basic skills at home.
I love that.
So the special is really about you spending a little home time and just being completely unequipped.
And she is.
You got to bring a prison.
You're back.
I was locked up when I should have learned this shit.
And what's crazy?
I was very good at useless shit in prison.
Like, I could start all types of shit.
I could fix everything that I need to fix.
I fixed my ankle.
She was fractured.
I think this shit myself.
But this is, man.
And she's always talking shit.
Always.
So that's rugged.
And rugged is fun.
It's just fun.
How long have you been married?
Shit.
22 years.
Wow.
Wow.
I love the way you put out material.
It's always like chronological of your life.
And so this new special is where you're at now.
Chronological Life Stories00:10:54
But there's one thing from the second one that I was bawling crying.
Oh, yeah.
When you tell a story about your younger sister, God bless her dead.
But like, boy, I've never been laughing hysterically, then bawling, crying, and then immediately right back to laughs.
I've never seen a special that made me do that.
How many times had you told that story on stage?
Because you're also never.
Oh, that was what I was wondering.
Because the way he's crying, dog, that's what got me aside from the story.
But like, I was like, there's no way you've run this 50 times.
I didn't run that special period.
Wow.
Eric.
This is my favorite part.
This is Domino Effect Part 2.
Part 2.
Yeah.
So, Joe, nobody knew what I was doing.
I just told them how I wanted it to look.
And they was like, well, you give us something.
I'm like, I got it.
Wow.
And we did it.
We recorded it.
It was no running of that.
It was no.
Did you know you were going to tell that story?
Okay, so you knew going into it.
I knew the year.
And you mapped it out in your life.
There was no way to skip that part.
That part.
Right.
It's not like I knew.
Crazy.
Because he had asked the question: did I know I was going to put it out in that order?
Yeah.
So we did Domino Effect one, and then people asked what was the rest of the story.
So then I did two.
So we went from 10 to 16.
Then we went from 16.
So we just, we went in order of the year.
So see, I thought you had this whole thing mapped out part one to part two.
Part one.
We didn't have it.
We mapped it out after one, after the success of one.
Yeah.
And people wanted to know the story.
So we figured we would just do after two.
I knew I was going to do three and four.
But it was no, like, if I tell you, I, and it's like with me, I don't talk about other people's craft.
That's what they're doing.
But when I watch somebody else try to create that moment, it's like you're discrediting a very honest thing.
Yeah.
Moment.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because I knew without running it, I knew as soon as I got to that part, I started feeling it.
Filling it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And my older sister is in the audience.
Oh, wow.
And this is her first time ever hearing my account of what happened because she had went back to the Navy.
Yeah.
And I don't think people understand.
My little sister is like the heartbeat of me.
You know what I'm saying?
It's like it's a different.
This is like the purest happiness before my kids.
You know what I'm saying?
So she's tattooed on me twice.
It's a thing when it comes to her.
So it was no way that I could.
Run it over and over.
Yeah.
It was no way.
It was like, man, get to it and Not know how you was going to come out of it.
Yes.
That's what I was going to ask.
You know, you're going to tell it.
Are you able to stay in the moment with everything that's leading up to it, knowing that this is coming?
I'm get here, and then you're going to have to figure it out after you're there because you may not be able to continue.
Yep.
Wow.
So I don't know what to prepare my head to continue with.
Yep.
Because it's so.
Man, I think this is the most damaging thing ever in my whole life.
Like, people talk about the prison.
The prison, that's whatever.
But, and I'm, the reason why I'm there is because she's gone.
Because this turned me into something different.
Like, I was a different, I became a different dude.
I would stop doing whatever I was doing to make sure I went to pick her up from school.
Right.
So me picking my daughter up from school, me picking my kids up from school is a big thing because it's the still the connection that you have with your little sister my little sister.
Yeah.
So it's, it's like a punishing thing.
Yeah.
And so I still ask her for help when I'm in positions.
And she was only eight.
And I was like, yo, man, you gonna have to, you're gonna have to walk me through this.
And that's um, it's punishing when you lose your happiness like that.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
So to do the set, as I'm thinking about it, I am on stage and I'm like, damn, how and what can I actually even say?
Yeah.
That's going to honor the moment.
Turn this around.
And I'm looking at my sister, right?
And my sister is just balling in the audience.
And then one of my boys, street dude, he is on one.
And I see him looking, he's looking off.
He can't even look at his wife.
He's looking off because he bawling and he knows the situation.
Like he was around.
And it pops into my head out of nowhere.
Because I was asking him, like, yo, you're going to have to help me through this, Shorty.
And then Pops came to my head.
This dude who used to sell dope for us.
During that time, the only person that could make me laugh was Pops.
Because I would come to the cookhouse and he would be in his speedos cooking drugs.
And I was like, yo, man, this dude is insane.
He's insane, man.
And Pops was fit.
And he had those Speedos.
I'm like, yo, man, what you got going on?
Hey, man.
Don't worry about what the chef got on.
I'm like, yo, man, this is a crazy person.
Yeah.
So that helped me to remember that moment.
Why?
And I was digging in my head.
Like, what made you laugh at this time?
Yeah.
And it was only possible.
He thought of that during the taping.
During the taping.
Wow.
Because after the thing, you're crying.
It's like beautiful.
Then afterward, you talk about the anger, which most people don't talk about.
Most people don't think about when they think about loss.
And I remember you said it with this fury.
I was like, there's no way he's ever said this before because it turned me into a fucking monster.
I will kill you.
If you say, what's up to me?
I'll end the feeling.
What's up will get you get you killed.
And I was like, there's no way he said this.
There's no way he's run this a hundred times.
It's just not possible.
I only cry because I had regret of time that I didn't spend with her.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That I could have been doing, but I'm out doing other bullshit.
Okay, you're going to pick up from school.
You spending time with her, but you could have did more that probably wouldn't have.
And it's not even, it wasn't even my thought pattern at the time.
Right.
Yeah.
You said you how much you love this little girl and the moments that you did.
Like, I can't look at an Ashley furniture truck and not think about her.
Right.
Because I'll never forget the time we walking home and she let my hand go and start running.
I'm like, what you doing?
Yeah.
Say, you got to come on.
I got to catch this man.
He got my truck because it said her name on the side.
And when she dressed up like a she Halloween, she had on all black and she had her face painted like a cat.
Yeah.
And I was like, man, what you got going on?
She's like, man, meow.
And it's like all these things.
And when she passed, I would sit in her room and I would hear her in the closet playing like she normally would be doing.
And I know how devastating this was for my family.
Yeah.
This like crippled my mom.
Yeah.
Because this was, and then I learned why it crippled my mom.
This was the first time that my mom was in a comfortable position that she could actually raise.
Oh, wow.
So she took care of us.
But she raised her.
But she raised her.
And so this is me understanding why this was.
My mom asked me all the time, hey, was I a good mom?
You know, you know, I love you, right?
And it's because this is the effects of her not completing the job.
She didn't, she's never got a chance to comfortably raise a child.
She's got her kids.
You know, it was, you know, me and my sister, she had us early.
You know, my mom had me.
I'm she's 20 years old.
And my sister's two years older than me.
So she just going through like just taking care of us.
Yeah.
But now she's in our country.
She's established and she for eight years, she's raising.
She's leaning in.
She's getting everything that she's going to do everything that she never got a chance to do.
You know what I'm saying?
So that's an angle.
And then for family members never to have seen her living.
Reacting To Painful Tales00:13:28
Yeah.
Because she lived out of town and they was always planning to come and never got a chance to.
And the first time my grandmother is seeing her, her grandchild's in a box.
What is it you think about?
And I'm reacting to your concern about, I'm sure there were some reactions that people were like, oh, is this put on for multiple shows or whatever?
What is it about you think maybe it's even comedians like our contemporaries that why do you think they felt the need to try to discredit that moment?
I really try not to make sense out of nonsense.
I had no idea.
Because maybe it was a, this is not something I could have did, or whatever the situation may have been.
I think you're on to something right now.
But I know the theory that I, um, somebody said something to me on the internet in the rage that I responded with speaking about my sister.
What'd they say?
Some weird shit that I don't even really remember.
I was so mad, like, like it was a fake thing or some shit.
And I, and I said, I remember, I just remember what I said.
I promise you on everything that I'm going to hunt you down and I'm going to break your fucking neck backwards.
Because you speaking, but you're, you're speaking on.
I remember a dude, I'm beating him in basketball in prison.
And he said something about, I don't worry about it.
I'm finna do something, whatever he said, like that bitch that's tattooed on your chest.
Does he know?
Is he aware at the time?
You got a pretty good idea.
But he doesn't know the story.
He doesn't know his master.
He don't know nothing.
And I never forget this brother named Black Show.
The look that he gave that he knew when I threw the basketball and hit him in the face.
And this was the first time they'd ever seen me come glue, come loose ever.
And then I had to get talked to.
He said, bro, people are not going to know.
They just talking.
Yeah.
And that dude was severely injured.
And I'm like, and every time I saw him, I just, I only felt I couldn't detach from situation.
And I know now it's people that troll you to try to get a response out of you to make you.
And I've probably gotten it under control now.
But to with that particular special, the criticism of people.
Think it was manufactured.
Yeah.
I think it's people's, I think there's a distrust a lot of times when it comes to entertainment.
And it's this idea that it's like this thing that's workshopped and put on.
And they're feeling these very real emotions.
And they don't know how to handle those real emotions.
They either have to accept that they themselves are also touched by this moment, enraged by this moment, broken by this moment, or they don't accept those feelings.
And they go, ah, this isn't real.
This person's not putting it on.
And I think it's an inability to accept that that moment is maybe punishing them as well.
Especially if you're a comic people.
Oh, yeah, where you're cycle.
Well, you're also watching.
You have to belittle everything that is like beautiful or successful.
you're watching i'm watching that moment and then my honest reaction i didn't discuss both of them hit me up and they're like dude i i'm bawling i'm bawling watching this thing now what i would say about us specifically i think it's like a cultural thing on the pod which is like there is a celebration for things that are great we try to reduce cynicism and it's hard but like if there is something that is beautiful the knee-jerk reaction shouldn't be to undercut it Because I was watching,
like, I don't know if I could get this reaction out of an audience.
I don't know if I have that level of, thank God, pain or what, rage, or whatever.
And I don't know if I'd have the balls to do that.
And I'm watching thinking this must be the first time he's done it.
So that is a reaction I had, but you got to try to fight against that party that wants to discredit it and be like, hey, I have a different purpose from God, whatever, on when I'm on that stage.
But that moment, I do remember being like, and that's why I was, I was like, you guys need to fuck.
This is fuck.
I never felt this watching anything.
I've never felt this.
And I don't know if I could elicit that reaction.
But a lot of people, instead of just accepting that and saying, I have a different purpose or I'll do it differently or whatever, will be like, yeah, but he XYZ.
You see what I'm saying?
That's where it comes from.
And I think the people that was there, if people listen to the audience, it's people crying.
Yeah.
But what was the feeling like coming off stage?
Was it cathartic?
I was out.
When I came off, I was met by my sister.
I just went into my sister's arms when it was over.
Because it was such a camera people, Eric was like, yeah, I'm glad you didn't send.
I'm glad you didn't do anything with this.
It was no way that we could have known going into this.
This would have been very hard.
And to, I think it was a bigger purpose for me to do it than not.
I needed some relief from it.
I know how many, and the fact that I'm going through losses.
And people are going through losses.
And from the losing the girl to how many, how unprepared we are for losing anybody.
And you say a thing early in the part two, which is like, when people talk about this game, drug dealing or whatever, they never talk about the losses.
They never talk about it.
I'm talking to you about the losses.
I'm going to tell you about what is going on in a person's life that's going through this.
It's a lot of L's in this.
But what I think is profound about these moments, and you rarely see them stand up, but it's like, it's not just about your loss.
There are countless people who have had losses that don't always get to process their emotions in the same way.
And they're processing their losses while they're watching it.
The people that know you are thinking about your sister.
The people that don't know you.
Thinking about their people.
And like in my last special, I have like a moment that is, it's my wife and I, it was really tough for us to get pregnant.
It was like, like very tough.
And we were able to do it.
And I didn't know at the moment when I'm writing the special that people struggled with this shit.
I had no fucking clue.
And when we were starting to go on the road, like, and there's this montage of like my wife getting to see our daughter for the first time.
And like, you go see these people in the crowd.
And at first, I was like, oh, that's beautiful that they're reacting to my story.
And then I started to realize they're reacting to their story.
They're reacting to like their trials and tribulations, the joy that they have with their kid, the struggles they've had trying to get it.
And it's like, I wonder if that moment, despite some fucking cynical idiots' criticism, I wonder if that moment creates this deep connection with the people that are watching that special.
Like deep connection where people start to process those feelings that they've probably kept bottled about for a long time.
And also to see a dude, you might not call yourself tough, but like a tougher dude break down like that.
Imagine what that gives you.
Imagine as a consumer, imagine what that gives you, the freedom to, all right, maybe I'm allowed to process this shit and feel this shit a little bit.
You know, I didn't speak about like her funeral because my dad, right?
My mom, my dad, been separated for a long time.
And inside the funeral, all these people in there.
But when I walk out, my dad is like in the corner of the parking lot, black leather coat, and he's standing there.
And he's just crying.
Had nothing to do with this, but he under, for some reason, he wanted to be there for the, we're talking about somebody who's not there for most shit.
Yeah, yeah.
And he just like, and I never forget looking at it.
His daughter was totally out of the physics.
He was like, but he was standing there like, man, this shit tough, bro.
And he's always been the, my mom, my mom is tough as rusty nails.
My dad has always been the unflappable.
I'm just here.
I know what a moment is.
And I'm, if you need me, I'm here.
My mom is trying to keep it together, but she is, it's like, my mom's falling apart.
And I never until I realized why it's like this.
And to this day, she, it pains her.
Yeah.
Like, like, I, my, my pain is one thing, but you talk to my mom.
Oh, this shit is bad.
You talk to my mom.
Did she watch it?
The special?
I never told her it happened.
Never told her it happened.
This is the one thing that I never told her that I did.
And you know what?
My sister may have told her, and I don't even think she did.
It's, I don't even like leading her down the road.
So I never even mentioned Domino Effect to her.
Wow.
Never even mentioned it.
I was wondering because you had people in your life, you have your older sister talking.
And I was like, my old sister spoke.
My boy Herb spoke.
My boy aunt spoke.
And I never even mentioned it to my mom.
Wow.
It's one of them things like, it's back to like if I was selling dope, I'm not.
I don't need to tell you these stories.
She would have to call me and say, hey, I saw the special, but I'm not bringing it up.
Because you don't want her to have to live through that pain.
I don't want to have to live through nothing.
Don't you hate that?
I hate that.
I was eating something and a ketchup fell on my shirt.
I was like, I just feel like I wanted to burn.
I was like, I was doing it.
I was having a good moment.
I'm like, fuck.
You get mad at the restaurant?
Like, why the fuck you proceeded about it?
Because once you spill something in your show, you know, fat.
I don't know what size you are.
You just like, this is fat bass sauces on his damn self.
I'm trying to hide in my armpit.
Man, what a gift.
You were talking about some real painful shit and then right into the funny, and you're just living in the moment.
That's what I'm saying.
When he did it, I was like, You fell for me.
I fell for you.
You understand?
Talking about your dead sister and having empathy for this thing is crazy.
Fear Of Losing A Kid00:06:44
It's crazy.
It's crazy.
I feel like the ketchup is there.
I get it.
It was coffee, too.
I was hoping it was just some of the moisture on it.
I'm talking about hope.
Like, it was just water.
It's not like that.
Goddamn coffee.
But as a comic, I think that's your craft.
Yeah.
Not the job.
That's the craft.
If you look at this as a job, I wouldn't show up.
Yeah.
I wouldn't show up to this shit as the job.
Like, as soon as I start feeling like it's a job, I take off.
Like, I'm getting ready to go to Greece just so I can wear some speedos and then I'm sexy.
All them fat basses over there just wearing speedos.
And I'm going to do it too.
So it's just the experience, man.
As a stand-up, I said a stand-up one time.
This old dude said, no, you'll fucking sit down.
You don't do shit, but sit down and talk.
I'm like, you're right.
But I think that's the part that you have to be brave.
Everything that we say when you actually in the craft is brave.
You know, you speaking about you and your wife trying to conceive.
Yeah.
This, you, she, when you said when she first got a chance to see it, she was in the NICU.
She, uh, it was a C-section, so she, there's this big curtain up, so you don't actually get to see the baby pulled out of you and you're numb.
Oh, yes.
So the baby gets it.
Yeah, I'm just thinking, was it a no, it wasn't pre-me, it was to term, yeah.
And as soon as you said it, it took me to the moment to where I didn't get a chance to really connect with Hanan because she was in the NICU for two weeks.
Yeah.
And they just put her like in this incubator.
She just flapping around.
And I'm, you got to put on all this stuff to go see him.
And it's no real connection.
And I couldn't wait to be able to touch Hanan.
And just, and Hanan is like the manager of all her kids.
Like, even though she's young, she's nine.
But she's the man.
Hanan is who I talk to about finances.
Hanan knows all my money and she's going to have to be the one divving them.
No, no, no.
Dig up the begonias.
Yeah, Hanan, man, that's that's my girl.
And she reminds me of my sister so much.
This is who I talk to.
So now, imagine this.
Imagine having a fear of losing your kid.
Like, I'm not really comfortable until they pass eight.
Dude, wow.
I was going to ask.
It's like, I have this, yeah, this whole thing.
Like, until they pass eight, it's like I'm on pins and needles.
Hold your breath.
Don't hold your breath.
Like, please don't let nothing happen to them, like, like any of them.
And I remember Jaden.
Jaden is a chef.
She's a wonderful chef.
I was so scared.
Bro, I remember this whole tumultuous journey to get to this moment and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong up to this moment.
And we're in there.
And, you know, my wife's not dilating and she's all up on the Pitocin and all these things that they get.
She's still not dilating.
And there's a moment where the baby's heart rate dropped on the monitor.
And keep in mind, like, I have not the same level of concern, but you're still like, something's going to go wrong because everything has gone wrong on this process.
Every single thing is going wrong.
And I start to see this monitor drop and then comes back up and the monitor drop.
And then the monitors drop and it's beeping for a while.
And I'm like running in the hallway looking for a nurse because in my head, I'm like, it can't go right.
I haven't felt anything go right.
So why would anything go right?
And you think like once you see the baby that everything's going to be okay, but the fear doesn't go away.
You're like, they're like, okay, we need a test to make sure that she can see and hear.
And you're like, okay, now is the moment.
And I literally felt maybe until she was like walking and running.
That was the first time I felt like I could take a deep breath.
Yeah.
So I can't even imagine what that's like for eight years, just looking at each one of your kids and just going, please, like, when can I relax?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's, if then they get grown and you hope you don't get a call something.
Like Jayden's 26 and I'm concerned about every day.
So it just doesn't go away.
It just we're just stressed until I've heard the fear doesn't go away.
The fears just change.
I don't even know if it changes or it goes away.
You just pray all the time that just you can manage it and nothing and that you don't have to manage something.
I'm going to manage this fear so I don't hope that I don't have to manage grief.
Yeah.
It's yet you have a choice.
It's one or the other.
Yeah.
You have a choice.
And then the days that you miss or y'all argue or something that you miss with them, you're like, yo, man, this time is precious and I'd rather fix it than keep fussing.
Like, how do we fix it?
Or you just want to fuss?
Do you think, do you think that you've invested, I don't want to say more time, but do you think because of that horrible circumstance you've experienced that you have valued time with your kids in a different way?
Yes.
And not just kids, people.
Yeah, it's like it's put time in perspective.
Valuing Time With Kids00:02:57
And like in a weird way, I mean, what a thing to give to you.
Like, I'm not saying that there's no way to be grateful for that at all.
I'm not saying that that's perspective, but like.
It's a way to be grateful because you start to understand how valuable every fucking day is.
Yeah.
Is this me and you develop a friendship?
You call me.
If I miss something that I said I'm gonna come to, I'm gonna, it's gonna bother me.
Like, like me and David Banner, right?
Me and David Banner have developed a friendship.
If I don't, he called me if I miss his car, call him back.
Yeah.
And say if you call me, hey, Lee, come do this.
Come do this show.
I'ma come.
No matter the circumstances, because Patrice O'Neill called me a pussy one time.
Only person ever living.
He's the goat to me.
He's the greatest of all time.
Call me a pussy.
Tell me this.
What happened?
So Patrice comes to Houston.
We do a show together.
Patrice's like, yo, you fucking dope, man.
Your storytelling is crazy.
I mean, this is like the biggest compliment.
Patrice is my number one.
Yeah.
So he, the next year he comes to Houston.
He calls me.
He's like, yo, you gonna come do the show with me?
And I say, yeah, cool.
But an ice storm happens in Houston.
Okay.
City.
Texas shuts down.
Y'all are afraid of snow and shit.
No, we're not afraid of snow.
We're scared of ice.
Yeah.
Okay.
Snow is fine.
Ice, we have all these freeways and these opads.
You can't see this shit.
Yeah.
It is 290 wrecks on the freeway and on the streets.
Like people just slide into it.
It's fucking insane.
So when he gets there and he's like, yo, you coming?
I'm like, no, I'm not.
Yeah.
What happened?
I say, it's a lot of wrecks here.
It's a lot of black ice.
I'm not fucking with it.
I can drive, but it's other people that can't.
I'm not fucking with it.
He's like, come on, pussy.
You know, Patrice, I don't give a fuck what you say.
In the Northeast, that is some pussy shit.
The idea that we wouldn't go somewhere because of ice.
You're not going to mind trick me.
Y'all get stuck into dying.
Dying on the fucking highway.
You know where I got to come from.
I'm not fucking coming.
And he's like, yo, you're not coming for real?
I'm not fucking coming.
Okay, Patrice, do I have to hang up on you to let you know that I'm not fucking coming?
And he was like, that's some bullshit, Leo.
Like, I don't give up.
Okay, it's an expedition sliding down the fucking street right now.
I'm not fucking George.
You be at the Coming Club on your own.
Refusing Dangerous Roads00:04:27
And it was light that night.
Yeah, I'm not sure.
Nobody's showing up.
Yeah, yeah.
Nobody's showing up.
They might as well cancel this shit.
You might want to at the club by your fucking self.
Okay, the people who can walk to that club will come down.
Yeah, that's it.
It is not fucking happening, Patrice.
Honestly, walking, you probably bust your ass.
Ice a few times on that.
And we don't have salt trucks.
And that's the whole thing he didn't understand.
This is a Northeast thing.
They've been on him damn.
So we got them now.
There's sand trucks in Dallas.
It's like, who the fuck one needs sand?
Yeah.
Salt the road.
Selt this shit.
It was terrible.
So he called and I was leaving town the next day.
Months go by.
He's gone.
And the first thing came to my mind is, fuck, I should have went to hang out with my friend at least.
And so when Earthquake called me coming to his birthday party, I got up, flew out there.
This is my friend with my friends in this business.
And that's hard to get in this business true friends that outside of this ain't the economy.
Like, I have some really good ones.
And if I'm not going to miss that time, all right.
I'm not, I'm just, I'm just not going to be able to do it because I don't know the next time I'm going to see you.
And so that has been, if I, if I think about you, I'm going to call.
I'm not going to waste the time to call, especially if you constantly remind sending me call now.
And the people who I hadn't called have left this place.
And then I, you, that's one of the, that's one of the things, one of my greatest, well, another regret, David Arnold.
I'm, I'm on vacation and David Arnold hit me, DM me, and said, hey, I thought I had your number.
Here's my number.
Call me when you get a chance.
I said, man, I'll call him when I get back in the country.
I'm in Mexico.
You're having a good time.
Call him and get back in the country.
So if you don't call someone back, they die.
I ain't never called you.
I can't risk it.
I can't risk it, my mother.
I can't risk it.
I've been staring at my phone.
I saw you read it, Lee.
I'm going to call you right back.
Hey, booty.
I'm in Greece.
You suck at the squeal picture.
Everything's good.
That's my thought.
Man, but those are the moments that you think about this shit.
You like, because it hadn't, David Arnold had never reached out to me out of nowhere.
It's like, yo, I talked to you about something.
I thought I had your number.
And I'm like, and in my mind, like, why the fuck?
I just didn't call him back.
I was in Mexico having a good time.
And I said, well, he'll be around, you know.
I call him and get back.
No, so I call people immediately.
Like, soon as something happened, what?
What's what?
What?
This shit ain't gotta be important.
What is, what is it, Rodney Perry?
It's just, I gotta call now.
If I miss, man, I don't hesitate to call Sidney Castillo or Malik S.
It's not even especially DL, but DL's older.
Yeah, so, man, this is this is like my guy.
Wealth In Independent Music00:08:45
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know, this is the dude.
Like, even when DL's been, even when I've did some shit that he was, I'm talking about so not in agreeance with.
Yeah.
He's called and said, okay, you fucked up.
Let's see how we can fix it.
I'm like, is it that bad?
He's like, yes, it's fucking awful.
What you doing?
I'm not rehashing that shit.
DL called me, like, yo, this is awful.
You have, oh, my goodness.
They're going to make you apologize.
I'm like, what?
He's like, listen, I'm going to walk you through this shit.
But when they ask me about it, I'm going to say, hey, that's still my guy.
And I'm like, yo, is it that bad?
He's like, it's fucking call me tomorrow.
And then I called him.
Good for him.
Good for him for standing by you, though.
Because I stood by him with the um goddamn um shit he said.
What are you saying?
I'm not reacting.
Just said Tupac is a dancer.
What's the matter?
Some shit that was on his video.
Shit is stupid, man.
People get mad at Chupa sitting that they see him do it.
He can pull this shit up.
Want to get around with the underground?
He was a backup dancer for Digital Underground.
Yeah.
For sure.
Even with the whole other thing is this.
I liked Brenda Had a Baby out.
Yeah.
He wasn't thug, he wasn't that on there.
Yeah.
Also, people got different expectations for thugging.
Like, if you've actually been in the game, I'm sure it's a little different than like someone like me who hasn't been in the game.
I didn't go to Juilliard.
Yeah.
Juilliard.
How many super thugs came out of Juilliard?
That was a great point.
Make the connection.
Yeah.
No, yeah.
There's a lot of it's like it's like when you heard about the guy with the mandolin.
Yo, you know, you know what's I think Jay the kids one of the coldest rappers of all time.
Yeah.
But when his daddy was sitting on that stage, like he went to private school.
With the private school.
That shit was so funny.
And I was like, get your ass off my list.
Jada, we love you, Jay.
I fucking love you.
We love you, Jay.
You can kill me with that one.
Your dad was like, I love his dad keeping it real, though.
That was a good time.
I want a coffee company.
Fucking talk about it.
With the private school, you had a chev in the house.
And Jay was like, yeah.
God damn.
I got a lot of James, bro.
Jada's still fucking dope.
Like, I just heard a new one.
Him and Fat Joe is so funny.
Have y'all seen?
You see clips on their pod?
Nah.
That shit kills me, bro.
Fat Joe just says, he just says the wildest shit in Jada.
The wildest shit.
Fat Joe is like, I'm a Glizzy Gobbler or something.
And Jada just goes, whoa, whoa.
He hit pause on his whole podcast.
Yo, him and Cameron makes me fucking killing him.
Because he's so poised.
We're not your little homies.
We don't got big homies.
But on the real, Jay Prince ain't really.
Bro, we gotta talk about Jay, man.
I didn't want to ask you about this.
Can you explain to people, maybe from New York, like what Jay is to Houston?
Shit.
Jay Prince is the mogul.
Like, we watched him come up.
You know, he was one of the first independent rap labels.
That's why our city is so independent.
We've never been looking for deals due to the prototype of what Jay and other guys cultivated.
So when you, I don't even know if what he is just to Houston, but it's just to the whole hip-hop industry.
He was really different from Puffy and Sug and everybody else because he was the format.
He was the formula when there was no formula.
It's like, how else can we get on?
How else can we create music and be part of this industry, which seems to have a lot of gatekeeping?
And he was like, well, we'll just create our own version of it, which is why Houston has this flourishing hip-hop scene that's not reliant on any major record label.
There's all these independent hip-hop musicians in Houston, and it's influenced music in general without this like label push.
I'm going to say this with gusto: our artists laugh at other artists because in our mind, you're not living better than us.
You're not making more money because you're getting 80% of your album sales in Houston.
Yeah.
Man, Ro.
This is all the people who I know that own multiple Rolls Royces.
Yo, it's dude.
I think it is important that people understand this.
Yeah, yeah.
So, like, Slim, Slim, bro, Slim was like building up neighborhoods.
Do you remember this?
Like, he was riding around like a neighborhood that he built.
Not just like he owned a condo, the neighborhood.
So, we, yeah, we do this all the time.
So, what people gave when Mike Eps built some houses, they were like, Oh, you know, we were like, That's old, yeah, yeah.
But shout out to Epsy, though.
That is cool that he bought back the house.
And that's cool, but we've been doing it, right?
And I think because you're doing it on your own, it's like it doesn't permeate industry standard.
And I think it's because industry doesn't want people to know that it can be done on its own.
Why would they promote it?
Just look at man.
I don't know a broke rapper in okay, sauce, slim, paw wall, chameleonaire, roll, uh, killer Caly own, Brad,
um, which is face, um, Willie D, yeah, um, Beat King before he passed, Megan, Megan, with Megan the industry, though, yeah, you know what I'm saying, Travis Scott, yeah, yo, Max NOT, he's from out there, right?
Mexican Bay City, yeah, yeah, Bay City, but it's right outside, it's right outside of Houston.
Um, really, we can walk there, it it's like it's so man, it's it's its own industry, it's his man.
So, Jay Prince, you think is the is the battery behind Watts man, it's just so many.
I remember pulling up to um a function and it was a just a line of Rolls Royces.
That's a lot little old, it's just a line of Rolls Royces, right?
None of this shit is rented, all this is owned and paid for, and I was just back in my and like, and is this an example of how like the record labels are extracting the majority of money from the artists?
Yeah, like when you go to Houston, you see the artists that are owning large percentages of their catalog, they're making man fat fat halt before he passed, Waltzness, um, man, bruh, K-Reno.
I can name multiple rappers who just good, like they like, man, we good, right?
Like, it is a profession there where it feels like outside of man, it's not just Houston, I think that like there are other areas that has popped up as well, but it doesn't seem like there's the most wealth that has been concentrated in that like area of independent artists at least.
But it okay, so here's a question: Drake has had this like perceived connectivity to Houston, and I think it's because of that's because of Jazz, because of the, yeah, Jazz is his son, right?
Embracing Genuine Artists00:10:42
Prince Son, yeah, and he seems to really like lean into Houston and have this.
It seems genuine.
Again, I'm an outsider, I don't know, this appreciation of Houston.
Is that a business deal, or is that like a real connection and affinity to those artists?
Like, does Houston really embrace and welcome Drake in that way?
And you don't have to give me like a fucking hot take, or this is like, I don't know, I'm just trying to ask from outside perspective.
I don't know what his real relationship is because I'm not a part of it.
I know what my real relationship is with them, and you, yeah, like you generally happy to see each other all the time.
No, just see each other.
Like, oh, so it's like real friendship.
Like, Kiki, I was walking through the galleria, Kiki was trying to go find some little kiki, and when we saw each other, my son was right there.
He's like, Yo, man, you just hugged.
Oh, but I said, That's Kiki.
He's like, Oh, shit, I didn't even realize that's what he knows him too.
But it's like we have a genuine love for each other's success.
I don't know what some outside artists' situation is.
You know, I know who I see, and I'm not talking about, oh, I came there for a weekend and did something.
I'm talking about I know who I see on a consistent basis.
You know, like it's like what I said about me and Woody D.
This is a we don't have to be talking about no business shit.
This is yeah, you guys just chopping up.
When I see Face, last time I saw Face, we were at this spot called Davenport's.
I just stopped through, and he was coming out.
He was like, Man, it's back as hell in that, man.
What you about to do?
I'm like, Well, I'm not going in there now since you told me that it was back.
Yeah, and then we walked to a food truck or something like it's the you know, I was generally hurt when B. King passed, you know, like when man, we like Ro, me and Ro our relationship is different.
Ro, Row, yeah, Zero, okay, okay.
You, you, if you listening, you would know, yeah, been on a lot of shit.
Okay, you get your pass.
Thank you, white privilege.
You know, so a lot of our artists, man, they just in their own bubble a lot of times when it comes to outside industry.
So, with Drake thing, I know that he was getting embraced because of affiliation, right?
Not earned, not earned, you know, nothing really earned.
So, but you can go to any other city and do that same thing by affiliation, right?
But you got people like Luda that they actually have a real affection with oh, really, you know what I'm saying?
Even though Luda's from Atlanta, yeah, but he's just embraced and loved in Houston, yeah.
He's embraced because he put time in there, you know, with certain artists.
Everybody, when you get embraced, you gotta be like, I'm gonna tell you who embraced JJ Faye, oh, not um, Jazzy Faye.
Jazzy, people love Jazzy Faye, you know what I'm saying?
That's that's a real thing, right?
With our with our RB artists, you know, we have a lot of different genres of music.
Most people don't even know Travis Scott from Houston.
Think that he's reached such super stardom that he's just known as like American musician.
But you guys are like, nah, this is Houston.
Because we get discredited for the artists that we do put out.
That's interesting.
The second they leave, it's like we know that Beyonce is from Houston, but I don't know if she's thought of as Houston.
But that's crazy because she's definitely represents so Houston.
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting.
Like she's so Houston.
You lose your identity as being from Houston the more popular you get, even if you don't want that.
Like the rest of the world takes you on.
Ask you a question.
Is Jay-Z embraced in New York like that?
Of course.
I mean, yeah, this is.
Is it, of course, or is it just by industry people?
Are they people?
No, no, he's not.
I would even go so far as to loved it.
I don't even know if I don't even know if Jay is embraced outside of New York, I would say.
That's kind of a hot take, but like where we put him, like, I don't know if they pretend he had no idea about Diddy.
It's like really crazy.
There's no way he knew.
And it's like, well, that's weird.
Like, in our minds, he's a stadium act in all countries around the world.
I don't know if he is that, but in our minds, he is.
Is that fair saying that?
I'm talking about away from the acts.
I'm talking about beloved.
Oh, he's unbelievable.
It's, yeah.
Good in any hood that you can walk around either.
Yeah.
Like, for us, like.
No, I don't think y'all really understand what I'm talking about.
Oh, what are you talking about?
I'm talking about Muhammad Ali embraced with no fucking security, with no none of that shit.
You just outside.
Like, I'm outside.
He doesn't do that.
But he could.
But he can't.
I think he's got that much.
In New York, yeah, absolutely.
Okay.
As an outsider, the way they love him is like, yeah, yeah.
I think for us, it's like.
I'm a Texas kid.
Jay-Z is like, so there's two different things.
It's like, again, I'm curious your perspective too, but it's like, who do I want to hang out and kick it with as far as like New York goes, rappers goes?
It's like 50.
I want to just, if I'm going to party, if I'm going to hang out, if we're watching, I just want, you know, 50 is just going to make everything hilarious and he's going to say wild jokes and it's going to be he's the GOAT, right?
And then there's Jay-Z who is like, oh, this is the businessman tycoon.
So I think that there's a lot of inspiration, which is almost like unfair for 50 in terms of like what he's achieved in his career as well.
But I think you look at these two people and despite obviously some, you know, rough stuff that's gone on in hip-hop or at least in like gang life, 50 said could go wherever the fuck he wants.
Jay-Z could go wherever the fuck he wants.
And they're just Mount Rushmore in New York City.
There's two, there's not four.
There's two.
And which is, which is crazy because y'all.
Jiggy, rest in peace.
I'm talking about a live.
Y'all put these, y'all put those two rappers on a Mount Rushmore and forget about all the rest of them.
Nobody is above Rock Hill.
Not neither one of them.
You're talking about a generational thing right now.
And I think that like older heads will look at a Rock Ham and they'll be like, this is the greatest rapper we've produced.
I think the younger people don't, they're not as familiar with a Rock Ham.
And also another thing with New York.
Yeah, something that's different from New York compared to Houston.
It sounds like we have the crabs in the barrel mentality.
Like it could only be one you choose your guy and now you got to go hard for your guy instead of just embracing everybody and loving everybody.
And they even disrespect Heavy D and I'll be like, yo, y'all losing y'all goddamn minds.
But again, but this is like, this is like dumb generational shit where it's like, I think that does this competitive nature.
Same Bill Russell Russell type shit.
We have to choose.
We have to choose between non-appreciate it.
Big Daddy Kane.
The whole thing is just because you didn't see it doesn't mean that it didn't set the fork, the foundation for what you're doing now.
Truth, that's crazy.
You're absolutely right.
You know why they don't know?
Because y'all are not teaching them.
No, no, no.
Y'all are just going with the Charlamagne says this exact same shit.
He's like, we're not celebrating the people who have laid the foundation.
We're not celebrating the OGs enough.
There's this like immediate reaction to what is hot and new now instead of embracing the legends.
Music in particular is so youth-driven.
Whereas it does feel like in Houston, there's still an embracing of the legends.
But I also think they keep putting out music.
It's like these guys, they're not taking time.
DHG's been dead for a long time.
They're going to say screw in every song.
Yeah.
Pimps.
Because it's in pimp and bun.
I didn't even mention bun.
Bun on a whole other level.
Yeah.
But it's just, man, but it's got a cultural mentality thing because over there, you guys all get along.
Like, we, our major artists used to beef with each other.
So how you gonna root for the guy who's beefing with my guy?
We've beefed with each other before, too.
We just never let y'all in on the beach.
Oh, that's family business.
Yeah, that's some selling shit, too.
Yeah, that's some settings.
There's also another thing.
That's the talking attack.
You gotta get out of here.
You gotta flight.
But then I always do this.
But like, there is one little thing that I would also say is that there are so many people that move into New York, and a lot of New Yorkers that grow up here end up moving out.
So there is this kind of like refresh of New Yorkers every 20 years.
So a lot of these new people that moved in from all these other places, they don't remember going to the tunnel and seeing these artists.
Right?
So they just have no connectivity to it.
The OGs that are like staying here tell the stories about it, but then the young people are like, I don't know what you're talking about.
I haven't lived that way.
So because of that kind of like recycling, every friend I had from Houston moved back.
It's crazy.
Every friend moved back.
I do think that that plays a little bit.
Why wouldn't you come home?
Why wouldn't you come home?
I'm never going back to Dallas to live.
It's sad.
I was going to see Dallas.
You got to flight.
You got to play.
Listen.
At least, go check out Rugged.
Go check out.
I think you got to check out parts one through four.
Watch everything else.
Just watch it all.
There's tons.
It's going to be in your algorithm and you're going to enjoy it.
We wish you much success, my man.
And I definitely see it in the future.
When we're doing the tour together, that's how we got to talk.
This is a fantastic idea.
Independence.
Independence forever.
Until they drop 100 mil in our bags.
And then we're just like, we might be a little dependent.